Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 8/29/2008

Question
Where at in the Holy Bible does it say Jesus went to hell(hades, sheol) and took the keys from the devil and while he was down there he preached to those who were there and the ones that believed rosed from the dead (and the grave gave up its dead)

Answer
Hi Humble,

Thanks for these questions.

Jesus never took keys from Satan.  Jesus always has had the keys.  There are only two verses that mention keys and here they are:

Matthew 16:19
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Revelation 1:18
18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Jesus preached to the condemned spirits, demons,  in hell, but we are not told that those that believed whent to heaven.

1 Peter 3:18-21
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

He did preach go to those in Paradise in the center of the earth, the Old Testament saints, and led them out of the earth and into heaven to be with the Father.

Ephesians 4:7-10
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.  9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don