“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. ²¹ And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.” 1 Peter 3:18-22

“In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders. The doctrine of the Incarnation, if accepted, puts this principle even more emphatically at the centre. The pattern is there in Nature because it was first there in God.” (“The Promise of Rebirth”, “MIRACLES”, “The Grand Miracle”, from Preparing For Easter; Fifty Devotional Readings from C.S. Lewis)

It is because of texts like that of 1 Peter 3:18-19 that we profess our belief that Christ died, was buried, descended into Hell, and on the third day was raised and ascended into heaven. There are other references in the canon that suggest his descending into Hell, but here we believe the teaching that Christ went into the underworld to preach to those who died before the coming of the Messiah. Christ not only descended to earth from Heaven, he descended below the earth to the depths of Hell to preach to the long, forgotten dead – but not forgotten by G-d.

Do you think G-d has forgotten about you? Are you sure G-d does not care? My friends, if G-d did not forget the thousands, millions who had died throughout all time, how could you believe G-d would forget about you? G-d does not forget us nor does G-d forsake us – G-d goes to great, eternal and mysterious depths to get our attention – and remind us of His love.

Pastor Dave