The intersection of human responsibility and God’s sovereignty is a perennial discussion. The Bible teaches both, yet most understand these ideas to be contradictory. It is always a temptation to elevate one and minimize—or “qualify”—the other. We can feel that if we emphasis God’s sovereignty, we necessarily minimize human responsibility, or vice versa. If this is you, it is likely that you misunderstand responsibility.

I understand that discussions of this sort can, and often do, get very emotional (and maybe I’ve offended you already). Risking offense for the sake of truth, let me try to address one piece that makes up the larger puzzle of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.

I want to demonstrate how human responsibility is vital to the gospel and how we can easily think wrongly about responsibility.

A Pop Quiz

Consider these questions. When God renders a “guilty” verdict on the day of judgment, who is responsible? When God condemns a person, on what basis are they condemned?

When God renders a “innocent” verdict on the day of judgment, who is responsible? When God justifies a person, on what basis are they declared righteous?

Most would answer the first two questions this way: The individual person, and their own sin, is the basis for their own condemnation. They stand responsible for their own condemnation.

And most would answer the second two questions this way: Jesus Christ, and his atoning work, is the basis for their justification. It is only on account of Jesus that anyone can be made righteous.

Do you see an error in these answers? Did you catch the contradiction? I’d like to point out a common mistake and clear the air on an important gospel issue.

To the Word and to the Testimony

To better understand human responsibility, I want you to consider what Scripture says about who stands responsible for our condemnation.

The Bible clearly speaks to this issue in Romans 5:12–21. In this passage we see a contrast between Adam and Christ. We can read the summary of the argument in verses 18–19.

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18–19).

Do you see the difference with the answers offered above? The Scriptures say that our condemnation is due to Adam’s one sin in the same way that our justification is due to Christ’s one act of sacrifice.

We are sinners, yes. We are guilty, yes. But we are condemned because we are born in Adam. The Bible portrays humanity in one of two states: in Adam or in Christ. Those in Adam are condemned as sinners. Those in Christ are justified as righteous.

Evangelicals believe in original sin. Most understand this to teach that we inherit a sinful nature from Adam, and so sin like Adam. Romans 5 affirms this but teaches us more. We not only inherit a sinful nature from Adam, but we are also declared guilty because of Adam. That is, because of Adam’s sin we are born guilty—imputed guilty by God.

We don’t like this idea. Many reject this because it doesn’t “work” with our notions of responsibility. How can we be held responsible for Adam’s sin and be declared guilty because of it? Adam is so far removed from us; it is not fair that we should be guilty for something he did.

However, if we don’t affirm that we are imputed guilty because of Adam, how can we be so confident that we shall be imputed righteous because of Jesus Christ?

This is why imputed guilt from Adam is such an important gospel issue. Those who take exception to being declared guilty because of Adam’s sin, take no umbrage that they can be declared righteous because of Jesus’ sacrifice. I don’t hear Christians complaining that it isn’t fair that Jesus’ act of atonement is applied to them. I don’t hear people arguing that they should stand before God on their own merits. No! We all want the merits of Jesus Christ to be credited to us. But we bristle at the thought of Adam’s sin being credited to us!

We can’t have it both ways. The Bible teaches us that our condemnation is due to imputation. We are credited with Adam’s sin because we are descendants of Adam. We are condemned because of the sin of our father. But this is according to God’s glorious design so that he can impute righteousness to those who have faith in Christ. God credits us with Adam’s guilt so that he might credit us with Christ’s righteousness. The gospel depends upon imputation—of guilt on one hand or righteousness on the other. Without imputation of guilt, on what basis can there be imputation of righteousness?

In our day of individualism we have lost the covenant or headship principle in Scripture. Adam is the representative or covenant head of humanity. Likewise, Christ is the representative or covenant head of a new humanity. We are born in Adam and must be born again in Christ. If we are in Adam, we are condemned along with Adam. If we are in Christ, we are justified along with Christ. Our eternal state is determined by our covenant head—Adam or Christ, death or life (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Why is this important?

There is a point coming after that exegetical summary. In fact, there are two points to note.

First, imputed guilt provides us insight into how the gospel “works.” God is a God of order, justice, and wisdom. He designed covenant headship so that we could be forgiven in Jesus. The gospel depends upon this double imputation.

Second, rejecting imputed guilt exposes a defective view of human responsibility. My hunch is that many who question imputed guilt have a faulty view of responsibility. Let’s call this faulty view the zero-sum view of responsibility. Here’s an example of it in action. If a husband and wife get in a fight, we will think one is 80% responsible and the other is 20% responsible. Maybe it’s 50/50, or maybe one is completely at fault and the other is the innocent victim. In these cases, we act as if responsibility must add up to make 100%. That’s zero-sum thinking. In our example above, if Adam is 100% responsible for our condemnation—and he is—then we must be 0% responsible. We know that conclusion is wrong and so this is why the imputation of Adam’s guilt is denied. It doesn’t make sense to us because we know we are responsible.

This is also why some deny God’s unconditional election. If God is responsible in showing grace to save some and withholds that grace to condemn others, then how can anyone be held responsible? (This, by the way, is the objection of Romans 9:19.) How is this reconciled? Many times people reject God’s sovereignty and Adam’s covenant headship because of their unquestioned commitment to zero-sum responsibility.

But is this how responsibility works?

In short, no.

A husband, as head of the home, is responsible for the sins of his household (Adam, where are you? [Gen 3:9]). However, his wife and children are still responsible for their own sin. Responsibility is not a zero-sum game. Everyone in the household is fully responsible for their own actions and how they have served in their God-given roles. The responsibility of one does not minimize the responsibility of the other. In a quarrel, the husband is fully responsible for his sin and the wife is fully responsible for hers.

More controversial, if a man sees a woman walking down the street and commits the sin of lust, typical thinking concludes that the woman is not at all responsible, no matter what she may be wearing. According to zero-sum thinking, if someone was to suppose the woman was a little guilty by her provocative dress—maybe like 5% guilty—then the man would only be 95% guilty. The thought that the man’s guilt is lessened because of a woman’s dress creates a strong reaction which clears the woman of any guilt. However, if we understand that the man is 100% responsible for his lust and the woman is 100% responsible for being a temptress, then we can affirm that they are both responsible, but not for the same sin and not in the same way.

So too, Adam is responsible for the condemnation of all men (Romans 5:18) yet we are still responsible for our sin before a holy God (“and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done” [Revelation 20:13]).

In like manner, Christ is responsible for our salvation (Romans 5:18) yet we are still responsible for our actions before God (“for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” [2 Corinthians 5:10]).

Responsibility is not a zero-sum game.

Wrapping Things Up

How is this all relevant to human responsibility and divine sovereignty?

First, the imputation of Adam’s guilt must be affirmed and zero-sum responsibility must be rejected. We must view responsibility through a biblical lens. CRT and other Marxist theories are predicated upon zero-sum thinking. For example, if someone is wealthy, then they have wealth at the expense of the poor. We must abandon the presuppositions of secular thinking and affirm biblical responsibility before we can address the issue of human responsibility and divine sovereignty.

Second, we must apply this insight of responsibility to the larger issue of human responsibility and divine sovereignty. Again, divine sovereignty is typically minimized or qualified because of the same zero-sum thinking about responsibility. But this leads us to the wrong conclusion. God, according to his unconditional election, is responsible for showing his wrath, justice, and power on “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” He is also responsible for showing his love and grace on “vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22–23). And, at the same time, Adam is responsible (Romans 5:12), and individual human beings are responsible for their own condemnation (Revelation 20:13). One responsibility does not cancel out the other, nor can it be weighted to add up to 100%. God and man are both responsible, but not in the same way, and without the responsibility of the one minimizing the responsibility of the other.

May this help you understand how both God and man are responsible on their own terms without qualifying the responsibility of the one to uphold it in the other.

— Tim Stephens

The following article is based on the sermon Descent Into Hell which you can watch or listen to here.

Christian thinking can be influenced by culture around us. Today, materialistic naturalism is so prominent in the world of ideas that concepts like angels, demons, spirits, and the underworld seem more like fairy-tale fiction than reality.

But the Bible affirms that the unseen world is just a real as what is seen. Human beings are certainly more than physical—we have a soul or spirit. God himself is a spirit with no physical dimensions or form. Yet we spend little time considering unseen realities. This article seeks to explore the depths of the underworld, understanding this reality in the light of Scripture.

Three Realms

The Scriptures speak of different realms or places. Philippians 2 is a familiar passage but there is one detail that likely missed your attention.

Philippians 2:6–11 says, “though [Christ] was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Notice the scope of Christ’s dominion in his exaltation. He has authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth—three realms. The earth we know. It is seen. We can touch it. The other two realms are not physical but spiritual. Heaven is the home of God where his presence is manifest and where the holy angels reside. Then we have under the earth mentioned. This is the place of the dead. We see these same realms in other places of Scripture (cf. Rev 5:3; Job 11:7–9; Ps 139:7–8).

The Underworld

The realm “under the earth” has many names in Scripture. “Sheol” is used in the OT and means the abode of the dead. This word is often translated “Hades” in the Greek translation of the OT. The word “Hades” means unseen place. The Bible also uses terms like the pit, the abyss, the depths of the sea, or the deep to refer to Sheol.

We know the underworld is a spiritual place since you die to go there, and death is the separation of the body and spirit. A body without a spirit is a corpse and a spirit without a corpse is a “shade” or disembodied spirit (cf. Isaiah 14:9; 26:14).

In speaking of the king of Babylon, Isaiah 14:9–11 says, “Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.”

The grave (Sheol) is not just where the unrighteous dead go, but the righteous as well. Genesis 37:35 describes when Jacob thought that his son Joseph was dead. It says, “All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, ‘No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.’” In Isaiah 38, Hezekiah writes of his near-death experience when he was sick, and the Lord added fifteen years to his life. He said after recovering from his sickness, “I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living” (Isaiah 38:10–11).

In this story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31) we see both the righteous and the wicked in Sheol. Lazarus is in a place of comfort by Abraham’s side, and the rich man is in torment. They are all in the same realm although their experience is entirely different. One might say they are in a different compartment, section, or level of Sheol.

Levels in the Underworld

While it might seem counter-intuitive to describe a spiritual place with physical descriptions, it is the best we can do to understand the nature of the underworld. According to Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16, in Sheol there is a chasm or pit that separates the rich man and Lazarus. Consistent with the Bible’s teaching about degrees of punishment, there appears to be degrees in the grave where the deepest levels of Sheol are reserved from the vilest of creatures. These levels “under” Abraham and Lazarus we can call hell, a place of torment.

Consider 2 Peter 2:4 which says, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” The word translated “hell” here is the Greek word tartarus. Tartarus was considered by the Greeks as a subterranean place lower than Hades where divine punishment was meted out. The Israelites used this same word to describe the lower places of the grave when the greatest enemies of God and righteousness would go. It’s dark in the grave, but down in the lower recesses of the pit is the gloomy darkness.

Jude also speaks about these fallen angels or demons. He says, “the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” These angels, along with the wicked dead are in Sheol, yet in different levels, waiting for the final judgment.[1]

Therefore, we can picture the underworld consisting of various levels. The righteous dead are at the highest level, resting in comfort at Abraham’s side. Beneath them are the wicked in different compartments, no one able to cross the threshold from one level to another. Like a dungeon, the lowest levels are reserved for the most heinous of enemies of the King.

Satan and the Underworld

The underworld is not Satan’s realm. Well, it is his home now, but it’s not what you think. He is not a red man with horns and a spiked tail and ruling with a pitchfork. Neither is he the one tormenting the dead or having a party with the wicked.

God has authority over the grave and over the underworld. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (cf. 1 Sam 2:6).

Satan is not the ruler of hell, God is. Satan is not the prison guard. He is a prisoner. Isaiah 14 speaks of the devil and his desire to be exalted to the highest heaven, above God. Isaiah 14:13 says, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high.” But verse 15 says, “But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.” I’m convinced that according to Revelation 20 that Satan is, at this time, in the bottomless pit, bound until the end of the age such that he cannot stop the advance of the gospel to all the nations. Certainly it can still be said that he is prowling around as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but he does so by proxy, using his demons to try to thwart God’s plan.

There is another word that you will come across in Scripture in reference to the underworld and to Satan. It is the word Abaddon. Job 26:6 says, “Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.” Proverbs 27:20 says, “Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied.” The word means “destruction” and is used in relation to Sheol but in distinction from it. It is the place of the wicked dead, especially fallen angels and describes the lower regions of the underworld.

Consider Revelation 9 where it describes the bottomless pit to be opened to unleash its prisoners upon the earth. It says, “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth [a demon], and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth” (Rev 9:1–3). The text continues to speak about these forces of evil that are unleashed on the earth and says, “They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon” (Rev 9:11). We see here that this fallen angel, whom many believe is a reference to Satan, is used of God to bring judgment upon the earth. He still operates under God’s command and with God’s permission but he is used to execute God’s judgment upon the earth by proxy. His name is Abaddon or Apollyon meaning he comes from the lowest level of the grave—Abaddon in Hebrew or “apoleia” in Greek. He is the King of evil, the Lord of darkness who is from the depths of darkness, the world under the underworld—the lowest hell.[2]

Jesus’ Descent into the Underworld

I want to change gears a little bit here. We’ve considered the underworld and its general shape and makeup. Now I want to consider Jesus and what happened when he died on the cross.

When Jesus died, he died as humans die. His divine nature did not die. No, the humanity of Christ died a human death.

When a human dies his spirit or soul leaves the body. We see a description of this in the gospels where Jesus voluntarily gives up his spirit and he breaths his last. We know where his body went. It was laid in a tomb lifeless. The body of Jesus was a corpse, buried in a grave. But what happened to his soul or spirit?

Like any man who died, the soul of Jesus went down to Sheol. Jesus descended into Hades.

Let me demonstrate that with Scripture.

In Acts 2 we have Peter preaching from the steps of the temple. Listen to his words, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:22–32).

Did you notice when Peter preaches, he quotes Psalm 16 and argues Jesus went to Hades but was not abandoned there and God raised him up? The two principal parts of man, soul and body were spared. His soul was delivered from Hades and his flesh did not rot away, but God raised his soul and reunited it to his resurrected body.

Remember when Mary spoke to Jesus by the tomb and went to cling to him? John 20:17 says, “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’’” His soul went “down” in death, and not “up” to his Father until his ascension.

But what about the thief on the cross? In Luke 23 one of the criminals crucified with Jesus began to defend Christ saying he did nothing to deserve this. He said, “’Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (vv. 42–43). What is important here is to understand that paradise, at this time, was not in the presence of God in heaven, but by Abraham’s side in Sheol. This thief on the cross, just like Lazarus here Luke 16, will be carried by the angels to rest with Abraham and with Christ in his death.

But there is yet more.

Paul alludes to Jesus’ descent in Romans 10 when he writes, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Rom 10:6–7). You cannot ascend to bring Christ down or descend to bring Christ up, but through believing in the gospel we are united to God and will be saved.

And Jesus himself is crystal clear in Matthew 12:39–40, when he responds to the Pharisees and says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just 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.”

In fact, this truth so clear and universally accepted that it made it into the Apostles’’ Creed which says, “We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin, Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried; He descended into Hades; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty...”

To quote Jesus speaking to Thomas the doubter, “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).

What Happened When Jesus Was in Hades?

The last thing we must consider is what Jesus did when he was in the grave. Three things are important to know.

1. He did not go down to suffer or pay a ransom price to the devil. Revelation 1:17–18 says, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Earlier in Revelation 1 Jesus is the Lamb enthroned in heaven and is said to be “the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (Rev 1:5). By firstborn the Scriptures mean that it is his inheritance and under his control or dominion. The three realms, heaven, earth, and under the earth, are all under the authority of our Christ! He has the keys of Hades. It is under his control. He did not go there to suffer but as a victor.

2. He went to save his people trapped or imprisoned there. Even though his people were at Abraham’s side, they were still in the place of the dead. Jesus had come to rescue them and bring them up to his heavenly home.

Zechariah 9 elaborates and says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (v. 9). A few verses later it says, “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit…. On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.” (v. 11, 16). The salvation of Christ includes those prisoners in the waterless pit—which we’ve seen already is another name for the grave or Sheol—and he will bring them to his home.

Paul also speaks of this in Ephesians 4. In verse 8 he quotes from Psalm 68 and says, “when [Christ] ascended on high he led a host of captives.” He explains in the next verse what he means and says, “In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions [of] the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things” (vv. 9–10).[3]

Christ went down to the grave to free those in captivity. Those who had died believing in God and hoping in his deliverance were led out of the grave and ascended on high when Christ died and rose. He led a host of captives when he ascended from Hades.

In fact, if you continue reading in Psalm 68 (where Paul quotes from in Ephesians 4) it says, “Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death…. The Lord said, ‘I will bring them back from the depths of the sea’” (Psalm 68:20, 22).

Jesus demonstrated his power over death, Hades, and the devil by leading a host of captives out of the grave and into the presence of God.[4]

3. Finally, Jesus descended into Hades to preach. 1 Peter 3:18–20 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah.” I’ve already mentioned this passage. But now we see clearly that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, in the underworld before he was made alive in the spirit.

What did he preach? We can only speculate, but I suppose that it was a cry of triumph over these fallen angels, and over those in darkness that he had conquered. The devils plan to put him to death, entering Judas to betray him, thinking the grave could hold him, were foolish and powerless. Rather it only went to serve God’s purposes! This could be why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” This could refer to the cosmic rulers that he speaks about in Ephesians 6. Perhaps they thought if they could get Christ into the underworld that the pit would close over him. But they were wrong. He went down so that he could free his prisoners.[5]

His sermon of victory would have been words of comfort to those who trusted God in hope. And then, he took those believers, by Abraham’s side, and took those Old Testament saints and brought them to heaven to be with himself.[6]

Conclusion

The doctrines set forth in this article are not meant to be debate fodder for theological nerds. Jesus descent into Sheol is a vivid picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hades is impossible to escape. Heaven is impossible to enter. But Christ has broken the bars of Hades and opened wide the gates of heaven. He has the keys of death and hell, and he grants the keys of the kingdom to his followers.

Jesus came down to bring us up. He died to give us life. He bore our sin to become our righteousness. He accomplished his greatest victory, defeating death and the devil, through death itself and then was raised and is alive forevermore!

It is not death to die. We don’t need to be afraid even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we should fear no evil. Christ has conquered.

This aspect of Christ atoning work is called Christus Victor and was taught be early church fathers like Irenaeus. Christ has rescued his people from the power of Satan and the grave and has established himself as King of the cosmos, the King of heaven, earth, and under the earth.

You must know this Christ. Do not be lost in deep darkness and in gloomy shadows, imprisoned without the hope of Jesus Christ. Repent of sin and trust Christ today.

---

[1] As an aside, I believe these angels are the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. 1 Peter 3:19–20 speaks about “spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah.” I believe these are the sons of God, a term used for angelic creatures, in Genesis 6 who were part of the corruption and wickedness of the pre-fall world. They were judged and locked up in the pit, in tartarus, or in the abyss. The book of Enoch, a Jewish book written in the intertestamental period describes this event and is quoted by Jude as he speaks about the judgment.
Other fallen angels knew this. Remember in Luke 8 when a legion of demons came out of a man and wanted to go into the pigs? It says in Luke 8:31 that “they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” They did not want to suffer the same fate and be cast down into the depths of Sheol, into tartarus, the lowest levels of the underworld and out of the land of the living.

[2] I understand what some of you, possibly many of you are thinking. This seems far-fetched. It sounds more like fantasy than reality. We’ve been societally conditioned to think this way. But Ephesians 6:11–13 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

The devil is not under every rock. And certainly too many attribute their own sin to the devil. But the unseen powers of darkness are real, they are working, and many are taking orders from the Lord of darkness, Abaddon, Satan himself. We must have a Biblical view of the world, both seen and unseen, and be careful not to trivialize spiritual realities that we are called to stand against in truth.

[3] The ESV translates this incorrectly. See Psalm 63:9 where the Greek text is the same as in Ephesians 4:9 and is translated, “shall go down into the depths of the earth.”

[4] Some believe that the first resurrection in Revelation 20 of the faithful to reign with Christ for 1000 years is this same group led from captivity. But the rest of the dead, it says in Revelation 20 do not come to life until the end of that 1000 years and the time of final judgment. These are the saints dressed in white waiting for Christ’s return in Revelation 6:9, 11. I don’t have space to elaborate so let the reader understand.

[5] After Christ’s descent into hell and ascent into heaven, those who die trusting in him, do not descend into Sheol or Hades, they go immediately into the presence of Jesus in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” He continues and says, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6, 8). That is, for a believer to die now, they don’t go to Abraham’s side, they go to Christ’s side.

[6] Time prevents looking into Jesus’ ascent. This would be a profitable study in the future (Heb 9:11–12; 1:3; 7:27–8:2).

What should Christians do with passages of Scripture that speak about the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham and the nation of Israel?

Psalm 105:8–11 says, “[The Lord our God] remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.’”

Does this promise apply to the church? Is this an abiding promise for national or ethnic Israel and not the church? Has it been abrogated? Has it been fulfilled? How are we to interpret such Scripture passages?

These questions are part of a larger discussion concerning the relationship between Israel and the Church. Everyone agrees that there are elements of continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments. But where do you draw those lines? Theological systems like covenant theology and dispensationalism diverge sharply at this point.

Much ink has been spilt on this subject and I don’t presume to solve every issue in this article, but I do want to provide some aid in thinking about the land promise repeated in Scripture.

Here in Psalm 105:11, we see the land of Canaan as part of the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham. In Galatians 3, Paul makes the case that the promises given to Abraham are abiding. He writes, “To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Gal 3:15–18).

If the covenant promises God made to Abraham are abiding and the giving of the law or the coming of Christ does not abrogate it or add to it, then what do we do with the land promise? Was the land promise for Israel and remains reserved for Israel in the future? Does the coming of Christ and his identity as “the offspring” affect the land promise? What we will see in Scripture is that the Gentiles have become full heirs of the promises given to Abraham through faith in Christ—including the land.

Gentile Believers Included in the Land Promise

By the incredible grace of God, Gentiles who have faith in Christ are included in the blessings spoken to Abraham. Galatians 3:13–14 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us … so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

If the Gentiles are included in the blessing of Abraham through faith in Christ, does this include the land promise given to Abraham?

Consider the sermon on the mount where Jesus promised, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The Greek word translated “earth” can also be translated “land” (cf. Acts 7:3, 6; Matt 2:20; 27:45 where the same word is translated as “land”). In other words, the meek in Christ—whether Jew or Gentile—shall inherit the land.

We also see in Revelation that the nations redeemed by the Lamb will inherit the land. Revelation 5:9–10 says, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Again, the phrase “on the earth” can be translated “in the land.” In fact, this is how the ESV translates the phrase in Ephesians 6 when Paul commands children to obey their parents, quoting the 5^th commandment, and says, “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” (Eph 6:3).[1] The blessing of the land, made to the children of the old covenant, is applied to Gentile believers in Jesus Christ under the new covenant!

The Expansion of the Land Promise

It is clear in Revelation how the promise of the land is not confined to ethnic Jews or the region of Palestine. Rather, the land promise now extends to cover the earth! Revelation 21 speaks of a new heaven and new earth in which God’s people will dwell in the presence of the Lamb.

Some indeed maintain that these promises given to Abraham will be fulfilled in a future, national state of Israel in the land of Palestine serving Christ. This is referred to as Christ’s millennial reign where the temple will be reconstructed, memorial sacrifices will be offered, and the “unfulfilled promises” of the old covenant will find their fulfillment.

Those holding to this interpretation would argue that I’m reading New Testament passages back into the Old Testament in an illegitimate way. They would see my argument thus far as violating the context and literal interpretation of the Old Testament.

However, I believe this objection to be unfounded and plan to demonstrate that these New Testament promises—which include the Gentiles in the land promise—do not originate with the New Testament but were taught in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament Promises Include Gentiles in the Land

The expansion of the land promise and the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Testament is consistent with the promises of the Old Testament.

Consider Isaiah 66:18–21 which says, “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory…. to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.”

We see here the Gentiles—all nations and tongues—coming to declare the glory of God and worship him. God will even take these Gentiles and make them priests! This passage reads like Revelation 5:9–10. This should not surprise us since Isaiah 66 speaks about the new heavens and new earth as well.

Similar promises of Gentile incorporation into the end-time people of God are expressed in other prophetic writings (see Jer. 3:16–4:4; Amos 9:11–15; Mic 4:1–3; Zech 8:7–8, 20–23).

The inclusion of the Gentiles can be understood as an expansion of the promises of God given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). This does not replace Israel, or the promises given to Israel. We should be able to affirm that Romans 11 speaks about the conversion of ethnic Israel and the grafting in of the Gentiles into the promises given to Abraham through Christ.

This expansion of the promise to Israel to include the Gentiles is not a teaching read back into the Old Testament (see verses cited above), and neither is the expansion of the land promise to include the nations of the earth a New Testament teaching read back into the Old Testament. There is an expansion of the land promise explicitly taught in the Old Testament.

Genesis 15:18–19 says, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.’”

That promise from river to river is expanded in Psalm 72. In Psalm 72:8 it says, “May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!” If you continue reading this psalm, you will see verses 9–17 include the nations as part of God’s promised land and inheritance.[2]

Lest we downplay the significance of Psalm 72 as poetic overstatement, God expanded the land promise when he spoke to Jacob (Israel). In Genesis 28:14 it says, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

The same hope of the borders of Israel, God’s promised land, to cover the earth is expressed by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 54:1–3 says, “‘Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,’ says the Lord. ‘Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.’”

What is clear in these texts is that the Old Testament itself predicts the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s covenant, making them priests, and expanding the land promise to include the nations. The whole earth is the Lord’s (Psalm 24:1). Christ will be exalted over the all earth, redeeming it for his own by his shed blood.

The Promised Land and Eden

It needs to be remembered that the land promise did not begin in Genesis 12 with the promises given to Abraham. To land promised to Abraham is not the baseline to which all references to land should be compared. The land promise goes back to the garden of Eden where God planted a garden and called Adam and Eve to cultivate it for the glory of God. The language of Eden is used at the end of the story when Revelation 22 speaks about the river of life and the tree of life. Again the Lord will walk with his people in the cool of the day.

Between the Eden of Genesis and the Eden of Revelation, the promised land spoken of in the Old Testament is also repeatedly linked to the garden of Eden (cf. Isaiah 51:2–3; Ezek 36:35; 47:1–12; Joel 2:3; Zech 14:8–11). The presence of God in the garden was manifest in the land of Israel and is being manifest throughout the earth today, and in the future will cover the earth leading to an Edenic state in all the earth.

The land promise is not exclusively for ethnic Israelites. The land promise is Christ’s inheritance. It was won by Christ’s victory when Adam and others failed. It is his inheritance which he will divide with those who have faith in him (Isaiah 53:12; Matt 5:5; Rev 5:9–10; 21–22)—both Jew and Gentile.

To use Paul’s words in Galatians 3, the land is not the possession of Israel but of Christ. It is in Christ that all the promises of God are “Yes” and “Amen” (2 Cor 1:20).

One Last Objection

There is one nagging objection that I’ve failed to address thus far. What about the literal boundaries that God promised to Abraham? Isn’t an expansion a violation of what was originally promised? How can we have confidence in what God has promised us if it can be expanded or altered in any way?

These are great questions. Let me be clear that I don’t believe the promises given to Abraham are strictly figurative, typological, or find their “spiritual fulfillment” in Jesus and the new heavens and new earth. Rather, the promises given to Abraham and Israel were literally fulfilled but the promises are also part of a larger story of the land that began in Genesis and reaches its climax in Revelation—all of it centering on Christ.

Several passages in the Old Testament speak to the literal fulfillment of the land promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). Joshua 21:43–45 says, “Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”

Nehemiah 9:7–8 also says, “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.”

These passages demonstrate that God’s promise to Abraham found literal fulfillment in the conquest. But just as we see a pattern of rest (Gen 2:3; Exod 20:11; Psalm 95:7–11; Heb 4:8–11) where there is fulfillment in a creation rest, a weekly rest, the rest of the conquest, and the rest in Christ. So too do we see a pattern of the land in the fulfillment of God’s promises from Eden to Palestine to the ends of the earth.

We are now waiting, in Christ, for the whole world to be filled with his glory! The coastlands, the far reaches of the earth, are waiting for his rule. The land is part of the blessed hope of every believer. This hope is not just for the Jew but also the Gentile grafted into the promises of God through Jesus Christ.

“He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law” (Isaiah 42:4).

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Amen!

—Tim Stephens

---

[1] Both passages end with “ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς” translated by the ESV as “on the earth” in Rev 5:10 and “in the land” in Eph 6:3.

[2] “May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust! May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!

Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day! May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field! May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!” (Psalm 72:8–11, 15–17)