The Days Before Jesus Rose from the Dead 4-19-25

What was Jesus while He was in the heart of the earth for three whole (entire) days? For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40).

Do you think He was just lying lifeless in the grave? Only His body was in the grave. Believe it or not, this is what the Word of God says. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water (1 Peter 3:19-20).

Pause – This scripture is confirmation that the spirit of man is still alive, even when the body dies. Therefore, our spirit is the real us! Not to the reason preached to the spirits in prison

To be honest, this was a difficult passage for me to understand. However, after several hours of research, I found something that made sense, and the Spirit brought back to my remembrance what I was taught years ago. Even with that being so, I want to be correct in posting messages to readers, because many of them have not been taught some of what I write.

After praying and seeking to gather the right information, that I had read over these footnotes previously, I continued to search, but ended up coming back to the same source of information.

Now to Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison: these spirits did a such a despicable act when they took on the form of men (they were created sexless) and married the daughters of men and had sex with them (Genesis 6:1-6). FYI – in the Word of God, you only read that angels look like males, and they are huge. That’s why when the women that they married gave birth to children, they grew into giants.

God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;  and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:4-5).

And 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 (Jude 1:6). Can you imagine what the world would be like if those kind of angels were still on the earth?

The summary of how important it is to understand what Jesus did while His body was in the tomb is relevant for the people of God. This information was what I learned years ago, and the Spirit helped me to go to the right source since my teacher is no longer here to reiterate what I had been taught.

John McArthur’s footnotes from the ESV translation:  Between Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, His living spirit went to the demon spirits bound in the abyss and proclaimed that, in spite of His death, He had triumphed over them the spirits in prison). This refers to fallen angels (demons) who were permanently bound because of their heinous wickedness. In the end, they will be sent to the eternal lake of fire (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10).

This is the victory Jesus proclaimed to the demons in prison. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:14-15). Later Jesus came and spoke to His disciples, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

I was led to write these last two messages because many people do not fully understand the Last Supper, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what day He actually died on (very crucial), or how He preached to the demons and prison, nor the reason. Everything that has been written is absolutely necessary for people to understand.

His handmaiden, Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org