Where Was Jesus?

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey, where was Jesus when he died on the cross? What happened to him? What was going on? When if he's dead? Well, how did the world stay together? If he's God, let's find out. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Hey, everybody. Welcome to this podcast. And I'm prone to most often say welcome to this special podcast. To us, they're all special. I hope they're special to you. I hope that they are making a difference in your life because we're bringing you truth and we're bringing you what to live by thus we are called real life. And this being the Jack Hibbs podcast and the ministry that I'm involved in and the in the para para ministries I'm involved in. Most of them carry the real life brand name tag to it. The reason why is because we believe that Christianity is not that we believe it. How about that? That's even the wrong way to say it. We know that Christianity, Biblically based Christianity, not modern day man defined Christianity. We're talking about Bible based Christianity is a fact. It is the reality. And so thus it is real life. To live real life is to live out the Word of God. We take this both from now in our lives to the grave and into eternity. And let's talk about that for a moment. Let's just jump in to this. And I'm going to cover too many areas of scripture to be turning pages back and forward. So I'm going to ask you to pay attention. And then I'm going to ask you maybe look that up. I'll say something like that. You can look that up here or look that up there. But let's talk about this. Let's talk about the fact that no other faith organization, no other faith group can claim. And that is for we as believers, followers of Christ, we're the only ones who can claim based on fact that our founder of our faith is none other than God himself. Meaning this that we start in Genesis 1-1 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And that's where we begin. And we end in Revelation chapter 22 where the Lord says behold, I come quickly, even so come quickly Lord Jesus. And what makes up the entire Bible is the truth of God. This book does not contain the word of God. This book is the word of God. And when I say that, I mean that there are not parts of this scripture that you can apply to today's life. That would make you honestly somewhat of a heretic to say, well, we believe the New Testament applies today, but not the old, or we believe that some of the New Testament applies, but not the rest of it and certainly not the old. Look, it's equally wrong for someone to say, and I have friends who say this, only the first five books of the Bible apply. The rest of it doesn't. That's equally wrong. God has preserved for us his entire word. And the scripture backs itself up from Deuteronomy, for example, from Revelation, from Matthew, from Isaiah, where Jeremiah, where the scriptures warn proverbs, the scriptures warn that you are not to add to the scriptures or take away from the scriptures. For if you do, the very curses of this word will come upon you. You don't mess with God's word. So coming from that, we want to ask this question. Regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, no other faith group can claim this. Mohammed did not rise from the dead. There's no evidence of Mohammed rising from the dead, and there's no message in Islam that Mohammed did rise from the dead. What about Buddhism? What about Hinduism? What about Taoism? What about Hinduism? All of these things that are faith positions have no form of salvation provided to the adherent by the very one in whom they worship. I want you to hear that again. Each of those organizations have a worship system, but none of their worship system has its founder being the one who pays the price for their sins, establishes righteousness, is resurrected from the dead, promising you that you too can now live forever, but Jesus Christ alone. Why is that true? Because there's only one book in the entire universe that said that's exactly what he would do. And so somebody might say, well, where does the Bible say this? Where does the Bible say that? We get that all the time. Where does the Bible say about homosexuality throughout the Bible? Why don't you read it? You want the answer? Read it. Well, where does the Bible say stuff about the rapture in the Bible? You should read it. Where does the Bible say about capital or corporal, corporal punishment? Somebody should be put the death for a particular crime. The Bible says this throughout. There's the consistency or the harmony of the scriptures, the expositional constancy of scriptures. There is the hermeneutics and the homiletics of the Bible. There are laws to the interpretation of the Bible that keep it intact for us, the reader, for us, the student. Now, let's talk about this. Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. Let's first of all back up. Jesus Christ before the resurrection, the Bible tells us that he was God come to earth in human flesh. That's Old Testament doctrine and New Testament doctrine. That Jesus Christ, by being the Messiah, when the apostles and disciples, for example, heard the voice from heaven in the excellent glory say, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. We often think that that's a very sweet thing to say about Jesus. Isn't that a nicety? No, it's not a nicety. It's beyond all that. When God the Father spoke from heaven above to the disciples, when he said, this is my only son in whom I'm well pleased, it means this is my one and only manifestation of who I am in person to you, mankind. And it is him alone that is acceptable to me. There's no other. There's no other that has ever been. There is no other that is and there is no other that shall be. It is Christ alone who's acceptable to the Father. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. By the way, that's all buttoned up in this term. This is my begotten son. There's only one begotten son. There will not be a second. That's why when you study the deity of Christ, now some of you who are of cults, maybe Mormonism or Jehovah witnesses or maybe Islam or maybe Judaism, you're saying, we don't believe that he's the only begotten son. We have a problem with the word of God because the word of God tells you an old and new testament that there's only going to be one son of God that is going to be given, one son of God provided, one son of God acknowledges the atonement, one son of God resurrected from the dead. That's Old Testament theology. That is Psalms 2, Psalm 22. That is Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9. That is Proverbs 30. We can go on and on. Just Old Testament alone on this. But let's talk about Christ being on the cross. This is God in human flesh. For those 33 and a quarter years that he lived at being born from the Virgin Mary, Isaiah 7, Christ is born into this world. God in human skin, he felt everything that you and I feel. He felt cold, he felt hungry, he felt pain, he felt sorrow. In fact, I personally believe that he felt it more perfectly than any of us could ever feel anything. But what he didn't have was a sin nature, which is a remarkable thing. Jesus did not have a sin nature, meaning that he didn't have to fight with what you and I fight with. His fight was actually greater. See, what do you mean, Jack? Jesus didn't have a sin nature because he was God, yet 100% man. But watch this. Jesus Christ and all points was tempted just like us, yet without sin. The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews as an example. So when Christ was tempted, was he really tempted? Yes, it was intensity, yet he didn't sin. We were born with the nature of sin. You and I have that. Christ was born without that nature. But when Satan tempted him, for example, in the wilderness of Judea for 40 days, those were real legit temptations. Those temptations were so great that you and I are only tempted in those areas by fraction. For example, when Satan said to Jesus, why don't you just bow down and worship me? And I will give you all the kingdoms of this world. That was real. Satan may be dangerous, but he's not stupid. What Satan said to Jesus was 100% truth. Jesus just bowed down and worshiped me, and I'll give it all to you. What made that a real temptation was that Satan was offering something to Jesus that Satan could give him. This world right now is under Satan's domain. Think of that. Right now, the realm, the authorities of this world are under the principality and the power of the air, the ruler of this world, the Bible says, Satan. Jesus Christ in coming, look at it this way, he invaded what C.S. Lewis says, he invaded enemy occupied territory. When Christ came into this world, Jesus invaded enemy occupied territory. The enemy is occupying this territory, the world. Christ invaded by being born into this world. And so when Satan said, just bow down and worship me, and I'll give you everything, that was a real legitimate temptation. Why did you turn these stones? You're starving to death. Why didn't you turn these stones into bread? You can do that. Satan did not deny the power of Jesus. Satan came at an opportune moment when Christ was about to die in the physical body. Satan came and said, when you like to eat right now, I know you would. Remember how good bread taste? I'm getting an unknown caller. Satan knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly how to dangle that temptation in front of him. So the sceptations that Christ experienced in the wilderness, they were more than real to us. They were exceedingly difficult. When Satan said, as he placed Jesus at the pinnacle of the temple, throw yourself down. Doesn't the scripture say that you will not dash your foot against the stone, but the angels of heaven will bear you up? Satan misquoted that psalm, trying to trick Jesus up. And what did Jesus respond by saying, they'll shall not tempt the Lord thy God. But listen, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, it was God there dying for us because only God and his death could atone for our sins. Not any good man. It had to be more than a good man. It had to be Christ himself. When he died, how did he die? Watch, this sounds like a trick question. A pause for a moment. How did Jesus Christ die? Your normal answer is going to be crucifixion, right? Somebody could say exposure, blood loss, exhaustion. How did Jesus Christ die? The Bible tells us. After the atmosphere had turned completely dark, for the space of three hours, God laid on Jesus, the iniquity of us all, Isaiah 53. Jesus then says, to tell us, die, it is finished. When his atoning work on the cross was finished for the sins of mankind, how did Jesus die? The Bible says Jesus dismissed his spirit. You cannot do that. I cannot do that. Only God can do that. When Jesus had paid the price for sin's debt, a price that you and I could never pay, he paid it for us. When he finished the job, he dismissed himself from his physical body. This is where it gets fun. His body died. The moment Jesus dismissed his spirit, his body died. Look, the moment your spirit leaves your body, your body dies. When someone is pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, it's because your spirit has left your body. You're gone. We only have your body. Listen, in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, it says, may the Lord, may the Lord Jesus Christ sanctify you fully, completely, body, soul, and spirit. So friends, listen, when Jesus died on the cross, and his body was hanging on the cross, where did Jesus go? What became of Jesus? What? Be careful. You want to think this through. Because some of your friends will tell you, how could Jesus be God? If he died, the whole universe would have fallen apart, right? Because isn't he God? Yes, he's God. See, your mistake is thinking that his physical body is what's holding the universe together. You need to think bigger, friend. When Jesus dismissed his spirit, the body dies on the cross. Christ, his soul and his spirit never died. Only his body died. So what do we know? We know that for three days, the body of Christ lay in the tomb. We know that during the time that Christ was laying in the tomb in his body, we know that the book of Hebrews and the book of Leviticus requires that for our atonement to be secured forever, our treasure to be laid up in heaven forever had to be offered up by Jesus Christ. It means that Christ would have been conducting his priestly ministry before the Father who's in heaven. It means that during those hours, those days of Christ's body lying in the tomb, it means that he would have fulfilled the Old Testament promise recorded in the book of Ephesians, where it says that he would have gone down and preached to those who were what we refer to in Abraham's bosom, sheol or Hades. Did you know that before Christ rose again from the dead bodily? Did you know that when David died, for example, or Noah died, for example? Did you know that none of them went to heaven? Nobody had gone to heaven. Nobody. Nobody. Listen, even the thief on the cross, what did Jesus say to the thief on the cross? He said, today you'll be with me in paradise. He didn't say heaven, big difference. Today you'll be with me in paradise. When Jesus died, his body died first and then later the thief on the cross died, what happened? Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. When that thief on the cross died, his body remained on the tomb, but his spirit and his soul went straight to Abraham's bosom, straight to sheol or to Hades. It's referred to in Scripture as I'll draw it because it's easier for me to explain. There's these, we'll call them two compartments. In Hades or sheol, we know from Luke 15 and Luke chapter 16, there is the place that is called referred to affectionately as Abraham's bosom, where Abraham, Daniel, Noah, Adam, Isaiah, the thief on the cross, Ezekiel. Remember when the Old Testament says, for example, to Daniel, Daniel, it's time for you to die. You're going to be gathered to your fathers. It's this spot, it's this spot right here. From so to speak, I say so to speak, accurately, I assume Adam repented of his sin and I assume that Adam was the first guy when he died to enter here. In the last guy, we don't know if the thief on the cross was, in fact, the last guy doesn't matter. Let's just say that he is for now. Everyone from Adam to the thief on the cross, as an example, saying he was, it could have been somebody else, but they went to what's called Abraham's bosom or paradise. Luke gives you some description that in between this place is a huge gulf, a great canyon. The verbiage is actually a gulf, g-u-l-f, a chasm. And then over here is torment. This is not exactly hell. This is also referred to as Hades. But listen, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, it says that He came and He preached the gospel to those who were captive. That's a great, broad statement because it would have also meant that He would have preached the gospel to those that are in, we'll call hell, though it's not technically hell. It gets complicated and it's a podcast for some other time, but Abraham's bosom, paradise, sheol or Hades, Hades or sheol divided in half, pleasant, torturous, believer, pre-resurrection, believers, unbelievers, the wicked. When Jesus Christ announced that He was the promised Messiah, He announced that to both camps. Can I put it this way? To these guys, He said, hey, I'm the one you guys knew about. I'm the one that you guys trusted in. I'm the one that you guys were looking forward to. I'm the one. I say, I'm the one you talked about. Hang on a minute. Hey, you know all you guys that rejected everything that Abraham had told you, everything that had been preached to you, that nature itself had preached to you, everything that you had heard and you had rejected. I'm the one. I'm the one that you rejected. You should have listened. I'm the Messiah. Those guys over here, they were correct. You should have listened to them. Read Luke 15 and Luke 16, okay? The Bible says in Ephesians that he took these captive. It's a term by the way, beautiful term used regarding a conquering Roman general. He took them captive. This is the spoils of his victory. He took them captive. Don't you want to be captive by Jesus? I want to be captured by Jesus. He took them captive. So technically, the thief on the cross spent the shortest amount of time in paradise as possible. He was just visiting. Can you imagine? Man, I wonder what happened. Oh, wow. Anyway, we could have fun with that. But the Bible says that Jesus took all of these who had trusted in him from Adam to the thief on the cross and he led them in a grand and glorious entrance into heaven. He led captivity captive and the Bible says he gave gifts unto men. That is a beautiful statement referring to the gift of salvation was given to them and they were delivered into heaven above and also the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gifts given to the church on the day of Pentecost. He purchased those gifts with his own blood. As of this hour, this paradise is now empty. No one's there. When someone dies, you actually know the answer to this. When someone dies, the Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If you die today as a believer, your spirit, your soul immediately goes to be with Jesus. Immediately. It doesn't go here. It doesn't go here. It goes to be with the Lord. If somebody dies today, not believing in Christ, the non-believer dies today. Where do they go? They go right here. They go right here. Sheol, Hades. They're not officially in hell, not yet. This area will be taken at the end of the book of Revelation. It will be taken and it will be cast into the lake of fire. Death in hell shall be cast into the lake of fire that burns forever. Yeesh. Think of that. So, departing from this now, we move on that during those three days, where is Jesus? There are various ministries that Jesus is fulfilling during that period prior to his resurrection. Remarkable. He's not somewhere in limbo. He's not somewhere floating in a some solution of water, spirit, world. It's not purgatory. That doesn't exist. The Bible tells us that it's not some limbo land that doesn't exist. Jesus Christ was in some way, shape, and form very active from the moment of his bodily death. And then when he rose again from the dead on that Sunday morning, his tomb was found empty. And listen, you read all four gospels and there's various accounts of what has gone on or what is going on with resurrected Christ. Remember, the women saw him. The angels are announcing he's not Harry's risen from the dead. Mary is crying. She sees the guard. Look at my finger. Watch my fingers. She sees the gardener and says, where have you taken the body of my Lord? Just tell me where you've taken them. And I'll take it from there. And Jesus said, Mary, Mary. And she realizes, Roboni, Roboni, teacher, teacher, rabbi, rabbi. And remember, the clinging onto Jesus at one point Jesus says, don't cling to me before I have not yet ascended. Isn't that interesting? I personally believe that after the resurrection, when Jesus says to her, don't hold me down. Don't cling to me. I've not yet ascended that at some point in time after that moment, Jesus appears in heaven in his glorified body as our high priest representative. And sees to it that his blood is offered up on the ark of the covenant, which is the actual ark, not Indiana Jones's ark, not Stephen Spielberg's ark, not the ark that was in the earthly temple. That was a model. Those were those were images of that, which is in heaven. Jesus presents his blood on the seat of atonement, on the seat of sacrifice in heaven above, where moth and rust and thief cannot break in and steal nor rust corrupt. Isn't that great? Your salvation is safe in heaven, not in some structure, some building on earth, some where thank God. So you see, friend, listen, Jesus' body died. Jesus didn't cease to exist and to meditate on the ministry that took place on the cross, after the cross, during the body line in the tomb to resurrection Sunday morning when his body was resurrected from the dead in his glorified state. I find it fascinating that Jesus, when he rose again from the dead, still bore the scars of his beatings and of his crucifixion. The book of Zechariah tells us that when Christ returns in the second coming to the nation of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem, the Bible tells us what Israel will say just always upsets the replacement theology goofs, but that's their problem. In the second coming Israel will have petitioned God three times. Come, come, and it says on the third time that they petition, he will appear. And they will say, what are these wounds that you have received in your hands and in your side? And Jesus says to them, these are the wounds that I received in the house of my friends. He's speaking of his own brethren. He returns to the mount of olives. He returns to Zion. He returns to the temple mount. And the Bible tells us that in the second coming events, the mount of olives will cleave and half. And the water will gush up and out of the mountain and part of the water will flow down into the Mediterranean Sea and part of the water will flow down into the Dead Sea. And then as that's going on, the Bible says Zion will be elevated. The second coming of Christ will have taken place. Amazing things. It's fun to imagine. It's fun to think. It's fun to scour scripture and do us a word study and search. What was Jesus doing after his physical death on the cross before his miraculous, glorious physical resurrection on that Sunday morning? This we know for sure. Eternal ministry was taking place for you. Friends, your salvation is secure in Jesus Christ if you have salvation. People will say, well, what camp are you of? Are you of one saved, always saved? Or do you believe you can lose your salvation? I believe that kind of questioning comes from sloppy logic, sloppy thinking, lazy thinking for this reason. If Jesus says in John chapter 10, if you're in my hand, you're in my father's hand, and nobody can snatch you out of our hands, sounds pretty secure to me. The Bible says in first John, these things have been written that you might know that you have eternal life. Sounds pretty secure to me. You see, we're asking the wrong questions. We've come to the wrong assumptions. It's not, do you believe that someone can lose their salvation? I'm not interested in that question. I'm interested in this question. Do you have salvation? A lot of people look like they're saved, act like they're saved for a long time. But over the time of perils and difficulties and trials and pain and the hardship of life and the trials of this world, they wind up giving up. There's no visible fruit in their lives. Did they lose their salvation? No. They were tears. They were goats. They were not sheep. They were not wheat. They were false brethren. Jesus says in Matthew 13, these are they who believe for a while. But when the world comes to them, they go back into the world. They never had salvation. They only believe. They didn't have faith. A lot of people believe. The challenge for you today is, do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to do what He says He'll do? You don't lose your salvation if you have it. The question is, do you have it? Or are you almost a Christian? If you're saved, that means the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. Do you mess up? Oh, yeah, you do. And you hate it, don't you? I do. Do you fall short? Yes, we do. But we know it and we hate it. A person who is religious and not saved, that doesn't concern them. They'll just act a little better tomorrow and work it off. You see, the real Christian doesn't live like that. The real Christian is 24, 7365 walking in the spirit. And when we fail to walk in the spirit, our alarms go off and we're immediately convicted. And we come to him and we repent of our sin. Friends, listen, the hour is late. You know, at the time, and I'm wrapping this up now, at the time of this podcast, we've just heard on the news that Israel has been given hours before Iran attacks it. Now, at the time of you watching this podcast, because, you know, we got to engineer it and get it out, only God knows what will transpire from this day forward. I'm all that to say, you better know Jesus. You better be able to explain these things. How did Jesus Christ die on the cross? What did His dying on the cross do for you? How does God forgive sin? How is God righteous when some people go to hell and some people go to heaven? When, why did Jesus rise from the dead? How is he qualified? If you don't know the answer to these simple questions, how can you be a Christian? How can you say you're a Christian when you don't know what it is that you believe in? Times are serious. We're getting near to the end. You must, must know where you stand with God. I pray that you give your life to Christ, own up to your own sin, give it to Christ, repent of your sin, turn away from it and turn to him. Believe in that he died on the cross and rose again from the dead and he promised to save you to the uttermost. God is so good. Friends, listen, if this has ministered to you, if you want others to hear this and to see this as well, just listen, share this, give us a like, give us a thumbs up, give us a five star rating, somehow in the algorithm in the social media world that helps us bump, get bumped up. It makes a difference. I don't get it, but you do, perhaps, but as always, listen, share this with others. Jackibs.com is where you can find everything that we do and as usual, as always, it's time for us to live out what we believe in. It's time for real life. God bless you until next time. This Jackibs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listeners supported. 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