Ques. Did the Lord's spirit go into prison to preach the gospel when He died? Is that what 1 Peter 3:19 refers to? V.
Ans. It was Noah that preached to the people before the flood by the Spirit by which Christ was quickened from the dead. The flood put them all in prison, because they did not hearken to the word preached. There is no preaching in prison in the Scriptures. 2 Peter 2:9 tells us they are there awaiting eternal judgment.
When the Lord Jesus was on the cross He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit”
Luke 23:46; and in John 19:30, He gave up His spirit. The Father 's hands is not a prison. He said to the thief at His side, "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise'" (which means "garden of delights"), that was not a prison (Luke 23:43). There was only one happy place, and that was in the presence of God.
Atonement was made on the cross when Jesus was forsake of God. His death goes with it, His body was in the grave, but death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24). His soul or spirit was in hades, that is the unseen or state of being unclothed (2 Cor. 5:1). It does not say in the Bible that He descended into hades, translated hell (a creed of man 's said that), but He was in the unseen. Before he went there, He prayed that He would be saved out of death (not from it.) He came to die. Psa. 16:9, 10 is the answer to His prayer in Heb. 5:7. His body was then in the lower parts of the earth, and in going there it was to defeat Satan's power, and to deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14). We as believers are those delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan's power,-the freed captives (Luke 4:18, Eph. 4:8).
Ques. What scripture would you give to prove that Jesus was ever the Son of God? E. G. M.
Ans. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Gen. 1:1. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (verse 26), "Let Us" proves it.
John 1:1, 2, 3. He is called the Word, verses 14, 18, 29, 49, 51, speak of the same blessed Son. "In the beginning (before anything was created) was the Word," this declares His eternal existence. "The Word was with God," tells His distinct personality. The Word was God, tells His absolute deity. "He was in the beginning with God. All things received being through Him, and without Him not one thing received being, which has received being." (N. T.)
The Son of God is spoken of as the Creator and the upholder of the universe (Col. 1:15, 16, Heb. 1:3). Unto the Son, He saith, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Heb. 1:8; Psa. 41:13; 106:48). He is the great "I Am," the ever-existing One (Ex. 3:14; 6:3; Isa. 6:1-3; John 8:58; 12:41). He is ''the Mighty God„ the Father of eternity" (Margin) (Isa. 9:6). "Whose goings forth hath been from of old, from the days of eternity" (Margin) (Mic. 5:2). When on earth He was "God manifest in flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). "In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" Col. 2:9. "He is the true God and eternal life" 1 John 5:20 (N. T.)
When He became a man, He is the First-born (highest) of all creation (Col. 1:15). When He rose from the dead, He became the Head of His Church in new creation (Col. 1:18; Rev. 3:14). "First-born," means Supreme, Highest. Yet, though He was rich in glory from all eternity with the Father, He veiled His glory under a servant's form, and became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9).
"Fairer than all the earth-born race
Perfect in comeliness Thou art,
Replenished are Thy lips with grace,
And full of love Thy tender heart.
God ever blest! we bow the knee,
And own all fullness dwells in Thee."
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