The gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ can fully make sense and thereby do its full work only when understood in its full three-part nature: 1) The Death on the Cross; 2) The Anastasis (The Resurrection) / The Harrowing of Hell; and 3) The Proof of the Bodily Resurrection.

To get a sense of the power of that middle third of the gospel (and its ultimate implications regarding the systematic theology behind the full gospel of the Kingdom), see here a fresco (originating around 1063 AD) of a standard Eastern Christian image originating from the earliest times and known in English as the The Anastasis (The Resurrection) / The Harrowing of Hell (the Plundering or Pillaging of Hell).

In the Anastasis (Resurrection) fresco you see Jesus descended into Hell directly after the cross. You see him drawing forth from their bonds Adam and Eve; King David, Solomon, and John the Baptist; even a whole host of men representative of all humankind. And you see crushed beneath His feet the gates of Hell, along with Death and Satan—bound and defeated at His conquering victorious entrance unto Satan’s once dark throne.

This is the suppressed truth keeping you from a systematic theology that REALLY makes sense!

For more on this ancient historic truth, hearken back to the teaching of the early church regarding this time “in the tomb”; this time between the cross and the physical bodily resurrection:

Christ not merely opened, but broke in pieces the gates of Hell (Psalm 107:16), in order to make the prison useless; where there is neither door, nor bar, whosoever enters is not detained.

What God destroys, who can set up again? Earthly kings indeed set free prisoners, yet leave untouched the prison gates; but Christ broke in pieces the gates of Hell.

Christ went to the utterly black and joyless portion of Hell (Acts 2:27,31), and turned it into Heaven (Luke 23:43), transferring all its wealth, the race of man, into His royal treasury. (Luke 11:21-22)

In this, too, Christ surpasses kings, for they send messengers, but He went in person to set the captives free. (John 5:25-28)

So the Apostle Peter says (see 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6): ‘Our Lord, when He was in Hell, set free all who were kept prisoners by death.’ (You can also see the same said by the Apostle John in Revelation 20:1-6.)

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 407), Archbishop of Constantinople and the “Man with the Golden Tongue — the Greatest Preacher in the History of the Church!”

The Anastasis (The Resurrection) / The Harrowing of Hell – A Basic of our Faith.

The Anastasis (The Resurrection) / The Harrowing of Hell – A Foundational Teaching of the Cross.

The Anastasis (The Resurrection) The Harrowing of Hell – A Teaching Enabling The Full Power of Christianity.

 

Thank you for your participation in my Essential Spiritual Fitness Program
… and please contact me with any questions!

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Here’s my GUARANTEE: I guarantee that you will find, once you really start “continuing” in the WORD through the Essential Spiritual Fitness Program, that God will slowly but surely change you for the better. And further, that you will be amazed at what God does to, and for, you, when, in simple obedience, you meet with Him each morning and evening according to the rhythm of your Creator!

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Thanks and God Bless,

 

 

Pastor Paul, Spiritual Fitness Coach