..........So, Jesus the Christ is dead, now what? So far, He is no different than any other prophet or proclaimers of the God incarnate. He has been killed by humans without so much as a protest. He has been put into a tomb and the tomb has been sealed. Ok, really not that much difference. However, what human eyes can't see, the Bible alludes to so that our spiritual eyes can catch a glimpse. The Bible isn't full of great detail on exactly what Christ did while He was in the tomb. We can take it for fact that His body didn't decay. He showed Himself in His human body to over 500 people after His resurrection. I, also, am fairly sure that He didn't take a vacation(although He deserved one) nor did He sleep, as in snoring. The Bible does say that He went to preach to those spirits who were in prison(1 Peter 3:19). What does that mean? He, also, tells the thief on the cross that He will see him in paradise this very day(all Gospels). After doing some research and reading several scholars on this, I formed my own opinion. I cannot say for certain who is correct but I will say that when I get to Heaven, this is one of my top 5 questions.
I believe that we can assume that Jesus was working while He was supposed to be in the grave. I think that He went to comfort those that were in Abraham's bosom. These were those God fearing Jews that believed and were righteous before God. I think that this is where the thief went immediately. Some people call this purgatory but I don't think so. The Bible calls it Hades or Sheol. It is not the same as Hell which is the place where souls go for eternal torment. I think He went to tell these souls not to fear for their salvation draws near. Not long, now, everyone! You will be ushered into Heaven to view God.
Next, I think that He went to visit the spirits(not the souls) that were chained up and waiting in the abyss. I think that due to the wording of spirits and not souls that these were the angels that chose to follow Satan. They were chained according to 2 Peter 2:4 in Hell or Tartarus or the lowest region, abyss. They will get their chance for torment and torture but this was Christ's chance. He went to preach the message that God has won and will remain victorious liked He predicted. If Jesus was capable of gloating, this would've been the time He would have done it. Allow me to gloat for Him, "What's up, fallen ones? As you were told before you were swept from Heaven, you have lost!!! The ultimate victory has been won! You chose and you chose poorly."
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:14-16
