Jesus Preached to Unsaved in Hades

Sixteen hundred years after the creation of Adam, God became displeased with the human race. Seeing how evil and corrupt they had become, God said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

But one man found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and that was Noah, who was the ninth generation from Adam. Noah’s grandfather was Methuselah and his father was Lamech. God told Noah to build an ark for eight people: Noah, his wife, and his three sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives. God instructed Noah, “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

Noah did just as God commanded and when the flood came, he and his family were safe inside the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days and rose above the highest mountains. Many have wondered about the salvation of those who died in the flood–they had no knowledge of Christ who did not come to earth for another 2400 years.

Question: Since John 14: 6 quotes Jesus as saying: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” how could the millions of people who died in the flood know Jesus? Answer: The Bible states that during the three days Jesus’ body was in the tomb, He went into the spirit-world and preached the gospel to the unsaved. I Peter 3: 19-20 reads: “Christ went and preached to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” A corroborating verse is I Peter 4:6, which states: “For this is the reason why the gospel was preached to the dead, so that, although they have been judged in the flesh like men, they may live in the Spirit like God.”

Bible scholars refer to the above passages as the “Gospel of a Second Chance.” Expositor William Barclay contends that Jesus descended into Hades (New Testament word for Hell) and preached the gospel to the spirits. The tradition of the Christ’s descent into Hades and the “harrowing of hell” became church theology and was incorporated in the Apostles Creed, which includes these words: “He descended into hell.” Catholic Catechism 635 states “Christ went down into the depths of death so that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” The Gospel of Nicodemus, which did not make the Bible cut, offers a narrative of Jesus retrieving Adam and other Old Testament saints from Satan’s clutches.

If Christ descended into hell to tell the dead of the good news of salvation, there is no corner of the universe into which the message of God’s grace has not come. An ancient church father, Justin Martyr wrote: “The Holy God of Israel, remembered His dead, those sleeping in the earth, and came down to tell them the good news of salvation.”

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