Good Friday Events on Earth and in Heaven 4.3.26

Good Friday

4/3/26

 

Seven Events on earth that happened on Good Friday

  • Sometime after midnight: Betrayal by Judas and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane: Matthew 26:14-16, Luke 47-53.
  • 4-6 AM Trial: Before Jewish leaders, Matthew 26:57-68, John 18:12-24.
  • 6-8 AM Trial: Before Roman authorities, Matthew 27:11-26, Luke 23:1-25.
  • 8-9 AM Sentencing and flogging: Matthew 27:27-32, Mark 15:16-22.
  • 9 AM Crucifixion: Mark 15:25, Luke 23:33.
  • 12 PM-3 PM Death and 3 hours of darkness: Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, John 19:30, Matthew 27:50-51.
  • 3 PM- Sunset Burial: Matthew 27:57-61, John 19:38-42.

 

Three Heavenly Events prior to the resurrection

  • Hebrews 4:14, 9:12, Revelation 5:5-7: Jesus completed our atonement with His shed blood.
  • 1 Peter 3:19: Jesus announced victory over fallen world and satan.
  • 1 Peter 4:6, Isaiah 61:1, Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8 Matthew 27:51-53: Jesus proclaimed liberation to those in Abrahms’s bosom.

 

 

Earths Events

Sometime after midnight: Betrayal by Judas and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Matthew 26:14-16. Remember that it was Judas who said that Mary of Bethany’s (sister of Martha and Lazarus) gift of devotion was a waste in John 12:2-8. And it was Jesus who said of Judas that he was the son of perdition in John 17:12. The word perdition means waste and Jesus is using Judas own estimation of Mary’s act of worship and saying that Judas worshipped things which made him the son of waste! Judas had been with Jesus for 3 years, saw the miracles, heard the teaching, and had even been used by God, yet his life was nothing but wasted opportunities.

Judas sold out the Lord for the penalty a person would pay for a slave that had been gored to death by a bull, $25.00. People have been willing to sell their worship and ticket to heaven for a can of beer, drugs, or sex.

The Apostle John tells us that there were some 600 men in the company of Judas, and they had come prepared. 600-armed men were there to arrest the meekest man that ever lived and 11 sleepy disciples, but it is Jesus who goes right up to the mob.

It was common for a disciple to kiss his teacher, but clearly Judas wanted to identify him. Look at what Jesus calls Judas here: Friend, why have you come? Amazing grace as Jesus gives Judas one more chance to be forgiven.

We know who it was that chopped off the servant’s ear; it was Peter. We are told that the servant’s name was Malchus, which means king. It is here that we have the last person healed by Jesus. Here we learn that Jesus does not need to be defended by the work of the flesh. Any work of the flesh, no matter how noble, always leaves a person wounded. Notice what it was that was cut off by Peter’s act, Malchus’ ear. We are told that faith comes by hearing. How many times have well-meaning Christians whacked off some non-believers’ ears, spiritually speaking?

The Roman legion was about 6,000 men. So 12 legions is about 72,000 angels, and we are told in 2 Kings 19:35 that it only took 1 angel to wipe out 185,000 Assyrians. So the truth is that the Lord does not need our help in protecting Him; what He does want us to do is to follow Him.

 

4-6 AM Trial: Before Jewish leaders, Matthew 26:57-68, John 18:12-24.

John tells us, they bound Jesus, how humorous these words are and yet how familiar they are as many today would in their own way attempt to bind the Son of God. 600 men bound a savior, the Lamb of God who needed no human rope to get Him to the cross as His love for the Father and His love for us was what was driving Him there, not the cords of human rebellion but the cords of divine love. It is here that the words of Paul in Romans 8:38-39 come to mind where he writes, “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So, the very ones that bound Him didn’t realize that His willingness to be bound was in order to liberate them from the bondage of sin.

Next in John 18:19-24 John takes us into Jesus’ trial before Annas the High Priest. Annas questioned Jesus about two things, but Jesus only responds to one of the inquiries and does not answer anything with regards to His disciples protecting them at all costs. Annas’ responsibility was to make sure that the basic legal protection under Jewish law was applied to the accused, but he didn’t. Jesus however was asked leading and illegal questions. Jesus responded truthfully without risking innocent lives and He was treated with a stern slap across the face.

In Matt. 5:39 Jesus spoke about turning the other cheek and here we get a practical example of how Jesus applies this, you see He stood up to the truth by saying, “What you guys are doing is wrong” and that got the slap on the face. He stood up again and said, “On what basis are you hitting me, if I’m not following the law and truth prove it, but if I am then why are you hitting me?” There was no retaliation, no name calling, just stating the facts and I believe that is a great example of turning the other cheek, standing on your rights without any name calling or slander towards the one doing wrong to you. Apparently this worked as Annas realizes he can’t get anywhere and sends him across the courtyard to his son in law Caiaphas.

What Annas did here was completely illegal as Jewish law stated that it was against the law to ask an accused anything that might implicate him. Jesus just reminds them of the law by saying, “Hey, gather your witnesses. I didn’t ever say anything that wasn’t public, don’t ask me as it is against the law to do so.” It is clear that Annas understood Jesus’ words, that he was conducting an illegal interrogation as one of the officers struck Jesus.

Another gospel reveals that it was in this courtyard that Jesus’ beatings began as they covered his head and began hitting Jesus in the face while mocking Him by asking Him who it was who struck Him. The covering of the head made it impossible for Jesus to roll with the punch and as such He took the full force of the blow upon His face. They asked Jesus to prophesy as to who hit Him and little did they realize that they were fulfilling the prophecy of  Isaiah 52:14 where we are told “His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men”.

The time before Annas was very brief and it appears that his hope was to get Jesus to incriminate Himself by stating things that could be used against Him and His followers later. Annas was not looking for reasons to believe but rather looking for reasons to rid himself and the nation of Jesus. There are a lot of folks today that pose themselves as skeptics and seekers, but they are not searching for truth, rather they are looking for excuses to continue in lifestyles that they are addicted to.

6-8 AM Trial: Before Roman authorities, Matthew 27:11-26, Luke 23:1-25.

In Matthew 27:15-26 there is a very interesting interaction.

  • First in verse 15 there was this custom at feast time of releasing a prisoner, and with Pilate already being in hot water with the Jews and at the same time not liking the religious leaders, he is thinking that he has got a way out of the problem of Jesus by offering to let Him go free. Furthermore, we are told that his wife, a convert to Judaism, had suffered in a dream concerning Jesus.
  • Second in verse 16 we are introduced to this fellow named Barabbas, who we are told by Mark 15:17 was a murderer and a guy who had been held for starting a riot. His name, Bar-Abbas, is an interesting name. It would kind of be a last name. You will recognize the first part of it, Bar, which means son of. Now abba, you will remember, is the Hebrew word for father; today we would say Daddy.

So Barabbas means son of the father, but what was his first name? I think we can discover this by the way Pilate asks the question to the crowds in verse 17, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?” Why would Pilate use Barabbas last name and then distinguish Jesus as the one who is called Christ? According to some ancient manuscripts of Matthew, it is because both men shared a common first name, Jesus! As you continue to read Pilate’s question to the crowds as to which person he should release, a few blocks away in a cell stood, Barabbas, and as far as he knew, this was his last day to breathe. His only hope lay in this pardoning deal that Pilate did. Yet he was on death row for murder and trying to overthrow the Roman government which was going to put him to death. He most likely could not hear what Pilate was asking the crowd, but I bet he could hear the crowd’s shouting  response to Pilate’s questions. Which according to verses 21-23 would have been over and over…

Verse 21 Barabbas and verses 22-23 Let him be crucified.

Barabbas must have lost all hope in that cell. In Matthew 27:26 must have meant something more for Barabbas as he would have been the first person to recognize that Jesus, the true Son of the Father, died for him.

8-9 AM Sentencing and flogging: Matthew 27:27-32, Mark 15:16-22:

In Mark 15:15-16 we read that they had Jesus scourged after Pilate had already declared Him not guilty which was a huge miscarriage of justice! Pilate no doubt thought in doing this it would gain Jesus’ sympathy as the Romans mocked Jesus, but it didn’t. Roman scourging involved leather strips with pieces of metal and bone embedded in them that stripped all the skin off his back; the result was leaving the victim bloody and torn.

Roman scourging had three main purposes:

  • It was used to beat the prisoner as a form of punishment.
  • It was used to extract a confession from the prisoner. As a tool to extract a confession, the Roman soldier would beat the victim harder and harder until they confessed their crime. Because Jesus had nothing to confess, the blows never lightened on His back.
  • In cases of crucifixion it was used to weaken the victim so he would die more quickly on the cross. Scourging was a preliminary to every Roman execution, the only exceptions being women and Roman senators or soldiers. The goal of the scourging was to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse and death.

In Isaiah 50:6 we are given part of the prophecy with regard to the scourging some 400 years prior as it says, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”

 

Consider this:

  • In Matt. 27:4 Judas declared that Jesus was innocent
  • When you put all the gospel accounts together you can see that seven times in the course of Jesus trial before Pilate he pronounced Jesus’ innocent
  • Finally, in Matt. 27:19 the thief next to Jesus proclaims that Jesus was innocent

The question every person needs to ask is: If Jesus is innocent then who is guilty? Paul wrote the answer in Romans 3:10-12 where he says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”

The people choose the terrorist over the truth giver, the taker of life instead of the giver of life. Pilate bringing Jesus before the multitude. Our Lord is bloodied and torn by the scourging He has suffered. He is still wearing his crown of thorns and the purple robe with which the soldiers had dressed him and repeatedly mocked Jesus but He with all this around Him He stands in regal majesty. A crown of thorns was pressed upon his head, and the soldiers mocked and taunted Him.

  • Pilate chose compromise and ended up murdering an innocent man.
  • The crowd chose Barabbas and ended up crucifying the Son of God.
  • Jesus chose the cross and ended up King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Pontius Pilate consented to not only put Jesus Christ on the cross he placed his conscience there as well. On the cross provision was forever made for our salvation and at the scourging we are told in Isaiah 53:5 “by His stripes we are healed,” so provision was made for healing in our bodies. Isaiah the prophet foretold this in 52:14 saying that many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. The truth of the matter is that Jesus received upon Himself that which was due us for our sin! With every punch to the face and whip upon His flesh, every nail that slammed into His body each and every one of them is a concert of His love for you!

Jesus’ death serves as a reminder of two powerful truths:

  • God does not take sin lightly
  • And God loves us all very deeply

It is then that according to Matthew 27:35 “They crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Underneath the buildings that presently occupy the north side of the temple mount in Jerusalem, archaeologists have uncovered a pavement stone that bears markings of an ancient game, rather like the game tick-tack-toe, which was played by soldiers of the Roman Empire. It has been established that that is the actual pavement of the judgment seat of the Roman governors, the spot on which our Lord himself stood as he was condemned to death by Pilate. The pavement is called “Gabbatha” (pavement in Hebrew). There is a lesson for all of humanity to be learned from Israel as they brought upon themselves needless destruction and heartaches throughout their history for the refusal to be ruled by God.

That is always the question for our own hearts: Who are we going to choose to rule over our hearts this day? Joshua posed this same question to Israel in Joshua 24:15 when he said saying, “if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

9 AM Crucifixion: Mark 15:25, Luke 23:33:

Mark very simply states the crucifixion. The word crucifixion is where we get our English word excruciating from. None of the gospel describes the act itself in any detail. Instead they all describe the crucifixion as historical fact where the New Testament letters explain the meaning of the event. History states Jesus died but the Epistles explain that He did so for our sins, (1 Cor. 15:3). In 1968, archeologists discovered the remains of a man crucified in Jesus’ era; (the skeletal remains are in the museum in Jerusalem.) It is clear by the remains that the person being nailed to the cross was in a sitting position, both legs over sideways, with the nail penetrating the sides of both feet just below the heel. The arms were stretched out, each stabbed by a nail in the forearm. Dr. Hass, an anatomy professor at Hebrew University observes that this was “a difficult and unnatural posture”, which would have increased the agony of the sufferer. What is interesting about this archeological find is that it corrects the traditional view of the crucifixion which has both palms nailed to the cross and the legs stretching straight down with a nail piercing the feet in the front.

The casting lots for Jesus’ garments is again a fulfilment of scripture; in Exodus 28 we are told that the High Priests robe was to be made seamless and Jesus being the Great High Priest had such a garment and rather than dividing it which would have ruined they cast lots for it. A 1,000 years before this took place the palmist wrote in Psalm 22:18 “They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” In the garden of Eden, God sacrificed an innocent lamb to cover the nakedness of man’s sin and here at the cross what began in the garden was fulfilled on a hill called Calvary where the Father sacrificed His only begotten son to clothe us in His righteousness.

 

12 PM-3 PM Death and 3 hours of darkness: Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, John 19:30, Matthew 27:50-51.

Mark 15:33 reveals an interesting fact as we examine this moment in light of the Godhead is the silence of God the Father.

  • At His Son’s baptism the Father spoke: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
  • At the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, hear Him.”

Yet here there is silence and the only communication is a darkness that fell upon the land. We know that Jesus was put on the cross around 9 AM and that around noon darkness covered the land that lasted three hours. A search of historical records throughout history reveals that even in different cultures they speak of this time when the sky went dark. The Roman historian Tertullian speaks of this darkness at the time of Jesus’ death in the Roman archives. Of further interest is the reality that based upon the fact that this was the Passover season we know that it would have been a full moon. That reveals that this could NOT have been caused by an eclipse because the moon is on the opposite side of the sun.

John 19:30 records the final earthly words of the very one that John had said in the first chapter was the Word of God. Just prior to this Jesus had quoted Psalm 22:1 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” He then glanced over to one of the thieves who was crucified next to Him and assured him that “today you will be with Me in Paradise”. And through all of this we need to remember that he said “I thirst”, all His words and care were brought in the midst of the greatest of personal needs. His final words came as a lamb that had passed every inspection, “It is finished”! Every other religion adds something else after these words of our Lord. “Oh it’s not finished; you must go out on a mission and give 10%”. Others say, “You have to go door to door and hand out tracts then you will be able to inherit the world”. Friends, nothing else remains to be done for our salvation. It is finished. All we do now is believe, enjoy our relationship, and bask in His abiding love.

In Luke 23:45-46 we are told that, “the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.” Matthew in 27:51-53 tells us that when “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” So we had the first rock concert, and it was live worship!! But what did all this mean? Well, in Rom. 8:22 we read, “..the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

This was the true Rolling Stones rocking out declaring that the curse had been lifted! The earthquake had another effect as the stones that covered over the tombs were opened. So what happened was that the bodies of some of the believers were made visible! Why this sign? In 1 Cor. 15:55-58 you read, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I believe that God was showing that death could not hold the saints in the grave. It says that these same believers came out of the graves after Jesus’ resurrection and that they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many. The word “appear” means to “to exhibit (in person) or disclose (by words), declare (plainly), to inform.”

 

3 PM- Sunset Burial: Matthew 27:57-61, John 19:38-42. In John 19:38-40  we see Jesus’ body in the hands of His friends albeit secret ones, Joseph and Nicodemus. John tells us that two undercover brothers came forward and did in His death what they weren’t willing to do in His life and that was to be identified with Jesus. So what made these two fellows who had been content to be secret saints come out of the shadows and into the daylight? I believe that it was when they personally recognized what Jesus had done for them on the cross! In this hour of darkness these two who had remained in the shadows stepped boldly, courageously into the light, Joseph coming into the presence of Pilate in Rome and asking for Jesus’ body and Nicodemus bringing with Him 100 pounds of spices to prepare Jesus’ body for decay, but those spices wouldn’t be needed.
John tells us that in the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden. Only with Jesus is there a garden where there once was only death. The world believed that Jesus was dead and they were glad, the worshippers of Jesus thought He was dead and they were sad. Oh friend no matter what your circumstance today, read with this again the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden.

 

Heavenly Events prior to the resurrection:

 

Hebrews 4:14: Completed our atonement with His shed blood.

The writer of Hebrews throughout this letter is not only issuing five warnings against rejecting the Messiah and turning back to the Levitical system of righteousness as seen in the sacrifices, but he is also giving positive support for not doing so in the superiority of Jesus as their Messiah. The writer has taken great pains to prove that Jesus is superior to the prophets, the angels, Moses, and Joshua. Here in this section the writer continues proving that Jesus is a superior High Priest to that of Aaron.

But all of that would mean nothing if Israel didn’t have a High Priest who could mediate salvation and that position belonged to none of the above, it belonged to Aaron. But the question the readers would have asked was: In what way is Jesus better than Aaron as a High Priest?

  • Hebrews 4:13: The first way the writer showed Jesus’ superiority was in in the previous section in verse 13 where we are told that “before Him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we must give an account.” Jesus Christ is superior to Aaron in His knowledge about those He serves as High Priest. Jesus knows us thoroughly, sees everything about us. Nothing is hidden from Him we are absolutely open before Him. He knows our weaknesses. He knows what temptations we deal with. He knows within all of us is a hunger for acceptance. He knows, that under pressure we will tend to excuse our failure.
  • Hebrews 4:14: The writer now gives the 2ndway that Jesus is superior to Aaron in verse 14, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Here we are told that, Jesus is the only one who has “passed THROUGH the heavens.” The word “through” in the Greek is in the perfect tense which speaks of a completed action in the past that has results in the present. The superiority of Jesus over Aaron as High Priest is stated in that little word “THROUGH”. These Hebrew readers were very familiar the work of the High Priest and were completely dependent upon him to accomplish his tasks or they would remain in their sin. The High Priest would need to pass “THROUGH” the court of the tabernacle, “THROUGH” the Holy Place, into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the atoning blood of the Lamb upon the mercy seat atop of the Ark of the covenant. But all of this was a shadow of the real thing. Aaron could accomplish the shadow but not “passing THROUGH the heavens”. This isn’t just saying that Jesus “passed INTO the heavens” but that He “passed THROUGH the heavens”. The difference is that when we take people and put them on a rocket and blast them off into space, they pass into the heavens, but they are still within the limits of “time and space”. No matter how far we could send them even if it was possible to send them to the farthest reaches of the universe they would still be in the heavens. But here the claim is that Jesus has “passed THROUGH the heavens”, went outside of the limits of time and space. Aaron could never perform this! Friends, the atonement was NOT complete at the brazen altar, the atonement had to be carried “THROUGH” into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the Mercy seat for it to be complete. This mercy seat in the tabernacle was only a REPLICA of the one in heaven. Jesus sacrifice for our atonement was not compete at the cross. It wasn’t completed until He as our High Priest entered to heaven with HIS own BLOOD and presented it upon the mercy seat in Glory in His bloodless body that our sin has been paid for. This is what the writer of Hebrews states in Hebrews 9:12 “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Not only was Aaron unable to offer a lasting sacrifice that would pay for sin, even if he could’ve, he wouldn’t have been able to “pass THROUGH the heavens” to complete the atonement. John describes this very scene in Revelation 5:6 where he describes what he sees saying, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain..” Jesus not only “passed THROUGH the heavens” but he had to overcome satanic obstacles according to Ephesians 6:12 “spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” and Colossians 2:15 “having disarmed principalities and powers..” This is an amazing picture of the battle that Jesus waged after His death on the cross as he “passed THROUGH the heavens” to the mercy seat to complete the atonement. Jesus is superior because there are no limits to his power to accomplish this.

How is Jesus able to accomplish this amazing feat as High Priest? The writer tells the readers, “Jesus Christ the Son of God”. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus said of Himself, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” The writer declares not only His title as, “the Son of God” but as Paul declared in Colossians 2:9 that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”. Jesus was a greater High Priest than Aaron because of what he alone could accomplish “passing THROUGH the heavens” but the writer’s point is that “Who Jesus is as the Son of God” is what enabled Him to accomplish what He did!

 

1 Peter 3:19: Jesus announced victory.

Peter address four questions in the ministry of Jesus in verses 19-20:

  • When Jesus preached
  • Where Jesus preached
  • To whom Jesus preached
  • What Jesus preached

The first thing we realize is that we are NOT talking about His message while he was alive in His body before His crucifixion, but after He was dead on the cross. Peter writes in verses 19, 21a-22 that preaching was to the spirits in prison. Verses 19-20 answer two of those questions that are clarified in the Greek:

  • “When” He preached and “Where” He preached is best clarified by understanding the Whom Jesus preached to:Little words shouldn’t be overlooked as it relates to understanding. The words “by whom” are in the Greek a preposition combined with a relative pronoun all of which when examined would make the interpretation of this “by means of which spirit” making the word “SPIRIT” in verse 18 even more unlikely to be the “Holy Spirit”, instead referring to Jesus’ human “spirit”. So “WHEN” Jesus preached is covered in the word “went” which speaks of a person who is travelling or going on a journey. This speaks of Jesus in a state prior to His resurrection and after His words of the cross in Luke 23:46 where He said, “Father, into Your hands and commit My spirit” and you will notice that the word “spirit” is with a lowercase “s”! As Jesus’ human body was laying in Joseph’s tomb, the man Christ Jesus who possessed a human soul and human spirit went.
  • That takes us to the second question “WHERE” was this place? In the Old Testament this place is known as Sheol where at that time the departed dead went. Sometimes in the New Testament that word is translated “Hell”, but hell is the translation of the word Hades not Sheol. Peter then describes that “by means of Jesus’ human spirit made alive by the Holy Spirit” that Jesus proceeded to “Sheol” to preach.

But to “Whom” He preached and “What” He preached? This is best answered by the process of elimination.

  • The question as to “WHOM”did Jesus preach is a bit more complicated! The word “spirits” in the Greek is “pneuma” and the difficulty in proper interpretation is that there is no place in the entire New Testament in which that word is translated as a designation of a human being! Peter under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit “DID NOT” have a dead human in Sheol in mind when he wrote this! Without the Holy Spirit inspired Greek there can only be two possibilities as to “WHOM” Peter is referring to as there are only two “free moral agents” besides humans that can fit this: Angels (Heb 1:7,14) and demons (Matt. 8:16). There is a difference between these two as the Jews clearly understood. Demons can take up residence in human bodies and have no rest until they do just that according to Matt. 12:43-45 where Jesus speaks on this saying that “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So, shall it also be with this wicked generation.” What this suggests to us as far as identifying to “WHOM” Jesus preached is that at one time they had physical bodies and that they went through some judgement of God for trying to satisfy their quest for a physical body and existence which is not true of angels.

 To help us further on this to determine that these are not angels is the clarification as to the locations of Jesus preaching as Peter says that they were in “prison” angels would not be in prison! There are two words in the Greek that are used to describe an unseen world where evil spirits are confined “Tartarus”, “HELL” as seen in 2 Peter 2:4 and the “bottomless pit” Rev. 9:1-12. The Greek word here is Tartarus and Peter links these spirits and fallen angels with the pre-flood saying that they sinned at that time. Based upon this it seems that after Jesus’ death on the cross and prior to His resurrection in Joseph’s tomb:

  • Jesus took His blood passed through the heavens (Heb 4:14) as our Great High Priest and presented His own Blood and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies completing our atonement.
  • Then Jesus preached to the fallen angels in Tartarus.

But “WHAT” did Jesus preach? The Greek word preached is Kerusso and the word was used for an “official announcement or proclamation made by a representative of a government”. Peter didn’t say that Jesus “preached” or “evangelized” or even brought a “message” instead that Jesus brought an “official proclamation” to these fallen angels. It was not the gospel, nor could it have been as they are not included in those who Jesus died on behalf of. Heb 2:16 tells us that “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” When we look at verse 20 we get a better picture as to what Jesus’ official proclamation was.

 What we see is that they were disobedient at the time of the flood and in Peter’s second letter 2:4 he mentions that they sinned, and that God did not spare them but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. There is no reason to think that Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is referring to a different group in his second letter than the mention of the one in his first letter. In fact, the use of the word “FOR” in 2 Peter 2:4 is a connective word and associates these two; the fallen angels of the antediluvian world of Noah’s time in which we are told Noah’s family of 8 souls were saved from and the angels were reserved to judgment. Gehenna is the place of dead apostate Jews whereas Tartarus the place of fallen angels.

Jude 1:6-7 sheds a little more on this where we are told that “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; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” It appears that the sin of these fallen angels was fornication as they went after human females, a different class of creation stepping beyond what God had designed. It appears that this produced a genetically altered order of “being” that mixed these two different orders of creation into what Gen 6:1-4 describes “When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.

Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so, his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came into men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” This mixed race partly human, partly fallen angelic warranted the destruction and extermination of all but 8 humans. So, after Jesus official proclamation between His death and prior to His resurrection was for the purpose of this angelic apostasy of the divine plan of God in which Satan trying to make it impossible for Jesus to be fully man as humanity’s seed would have been polluted by demonic seed making human atonement impossible. So, this official announcement was that Satan, and this plan was forever thwarted!

1 Peter 4:6, Isaiah 61:1, Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8: Proclaimed liberation to those who died prior to Jesus finished work of atonement:

Ephesians 4:8-10 Paul places the word “therefore” which tells the reader that his thought in verse 7 is connected to what he is about to say here. Then Paul quotes from Psalm 68:18, which is a very vivid picture of what happened after an enemy was defeated. The conquering army would come back into their town with the shouts of a joyous victory with two things in tow according to Ephesians 4:8 captivity and gifts and these are clarified in verses 9 and 10.

  1. 9 Captivity: They would bring after them those that had once defeated them behind the conquering commander. In the Old Testament there were those believers who had died before Jesus and were held in “Abraham’s bosom”. After Jesus’ death on the cross and before His resurrection He went there and set them free from death which once held them. Here is how this works for us, Jesus has set us free from everything that once held us, and we get to go out in the world and live free.
  2. 10 Gifts: They would bring the spoils taken from the enemy. Isn’t that interesting that the spoils came after the defeated enemy? Notice the words “far above the heavens” and “might fill all things”. That speaks to me about being able to enjoy life on a level that I never dreamed was possible “far above the heavens” or out of reach. And on a level that, “fills all things” or that which truly satisfies me.
  • It is here that Matthew 27:51-53 tells us that when “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” I believe that God was showing that death could not hold the saints in the grave. It says that these same believers came out of the graves after Jesus’ resurrection and that they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many. The word “appear” means to “to exhibit (in person) or disclose (by words), declare (plainly), to inform.”