Christ’s Descent into Hades (The Harrowing of Hell)

Christ descends into Hades after his death, where the dead—from Adam, the patriarchs, and the prophets—are gathered in darkness awaiting redemption; they recall a promise that the Son of God would come to heal and raise humanity, while Satan and Hades debate his power and fear his arrival. A divine voice commands the gates to open, Christ enters as the King of glory, shatters the gates, binds Satan, and empties Hades by raising the dead, beginning with Adam, declaring restoration through the cross. He leads the righteous into Paradise, where figures like Enoch, Elijah, and the repentant thief testify, and the risen are sent to bear witness to the resurrection before departing.

So today I want to read to you a document called The Descent of Christ into Hades, or The Harrowing of Hell. This comes from the Gospel of Nicodemus, which was probably completed sometime in the fifth or sixth century. You'll recognize that means it's not Scripture, but it reflects on Scripture, specifically Matthew 27:52–53, where Jesus dies and it says:

“The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

This is a really interesting early church commentary on what those verses mean—that when Christ rose, the grave was opened and the saints rose with him. What does that mean? So it's a story that goes along those lines. I have this printout here because I put together the text in a printable PDF that you can get on my website. You can print it normally on eight and a half by eleven, or, if you know how to make it into a booklet, you can format it like this. Or you can read it off your iPad or phone or whatever digital device you prefer, which is actually my preference. So, without any further ado, I'm going to get in and read this as best as I can.

All right, this is The Harrowing of Hell, or The Descent of Christ into Hades:

Joseph says, “Why do you wonder that Jesus has risen? It is wonderful not only that he has risen, but that he has also raised many others of the dead who have appeared in Jerusalem to many. And if you do not know the others, you at least know Simeon who received Jesus, and his two sons, whom he has raised up. You know them, for we buried them not long ago, but now their tombs are seen open and empty, and they are alive and dwelling in Arimathea.”

They therefore sent men, and they found their tombs open and empty. Joseph says, “Let us go to Arimathea and find them.” Then the chief priests, Annas and Caiaphas, rose up along with Joseph, Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and others with them, and went away to Arimathea and found those whom Joseph spoke of. They prayed and greeted each other. Then they came with them to Jerusalem, brought them into the synagogue, secured the doors, and placed the old covenant before them.

The chief priests said to them, “We wish you to swear by the God of Israel and Adonai that you will tell the truth—how you have risen and who has raised you from the dead.” The men who had risen, having heard this, made the sign of the cross upon their faces and said to the chief priests, “Give us paper and ink and pen.” They brought these, and sitting down, they wrote:

“O Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life of the world, grant us grace that we may give an account of your resurrection and of your miracles which you performed in Hades. We were in Hades with all who had fallen asleep since the beginning of the world. And at the hour of midnight there arose a light like the sun and shone into the dark regions, and we were all filled with light and saw one another. Immediately our father Abraham was united with the patriarchs and the prophets, and at the same time they were filled with joy and said to each other, ‘This light is from a great source of light.’”

The prophet Isaiah, who was present there, said, “This light is from the Father and from the Son and from the Holy Spirit, about whom I prophesied while still alive, saying, ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.’”

Then another came into their midst, an ascetic from the desert. The patriarchs said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am John, the last of the prophets, who made straight the paths of the Son of God and proclaimed to the people repentance for the remission of sins. And the Son of God came to me, and seeing him from afar, I said to the people, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ With my hand I baptized him in the river Jordan, and I saw the Holy Spirit descending upon him like a dove. And I heard the voice of God, the Father, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ For this reason he has sent me also to you, to proclaim that the only begotten Son of God is coming here, that whoever believes in him will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned. Therefore, I say to you all: when you see him, you must all adore him. Now is the time for you to repent for having worshiped idols in the vain world above and for the sins you have committed, for this is impossible at any other time.”

While John was teaching those in Hades, the first-created forefather, Adam, heard and said to his son Seth, “My son, I want you to tell the forefathers of the human race and the prophets where I sent you when it fell upon me to die.” And Seth said, “Prophets and patriarchs, listen: when my father Adam, the first created, fell into death, he sent me to make entreaty to God near the gate of Paradise, that he would guide me by an angel to the tree of compassion, so that I might take oil and anoint my father, that he might rise up from his sickness. This I did. After the prayer, an angel of the Lord came and said to me, ‘What do you ask, Seth? Do you ask for the oil that raises the sick, or the tree from which the oil flows on account of your father’s sickness? This is not to be found. Go, therefore, and tell your father that after the accomplishing of 5,500 years from the creation of the world, the only begotten Son of God shall come into the earth, being made man. He shall anoint him with this oil and shall raise him up and wash him clean with the water of the Holy Spirit, both him and those from him. Then he shall be healed from every disease. But now this is impossible.’” When the patriarchs and the prophets heard these words, they rejoiced greatly.

While all were in such joy, Satan, the heir of darkness, came and said to Hades, “O all-devouring and insatiable one, hear my words. There was one of the race of the Jews named Jesus, calling himself the Son of God, yet being a man. Through our working with the Jews, they have crucified him, and now that he is dead, be ready that we may secure him here. I know that he is a man, and I heard him say, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.’ He has done many evils while living among mortals in the upper world. Wherever he found my servants, he persecuted them, and whatever men I made crooked, blind, lame, leprous, or afflicted in any way, he healed them with a single word. Many whom I had made ready to be buried, even these he brought to life again with a single word.”

Hades said, “Is this man so powerful as to do such things with a single word? If he is so, can you withstand him? It seems to me that if he is so, no one will be able to withstand him. And if you say that you heard him dreading death, he said this mocking you and laughing, wishing to seize you with a strong hand. Woe to you for all eternity.” Satan said, “O all-devouring and insatiable Hades, are you so afraid at hearing of our common enemy? I was not afraid of him, but worked with the Jews, and they crucified him and gave him gall with vinegar. Make ready, then, so that you may lay hold of him when he comes.”

Hades answered, “Heir of darkness, son of destruction, devil, you have just told me that many whom you made ready to be buried were brought to life again by a single word. If he has delivered others from the tomb, how and with what power shall he be held by us? Not long ago I swallowed one who was dead, Lazarus by name, and not long after, one of the living, with a single word, dragged him out of my bowels by force. I think it was he of whom you speak. If we receive him here, I fear we may be in danger even concerning the rest. All whom I have swallowed from eternity I perceive to be in commotion, and I am pained in my belly. The snatching away of Lazarus seemed to me to be no good sign, for not like a dead body, but like an eagle he flew out of me. So suddenly did the earth cast him out. Therefore, I urge you, for your benefit and for mine, not to bring him here, for I think he is coming to raise all the dead. I tell you this by the darkness in which we live: if you bring him here, not one of the dead will be left to me.”

While Satan and Hades were speaking to each other, there came a great voice like thunder, saying, “Lift up your gates, O rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, that the King of glory may come in.” When Hades heard it, he said to Satan, “Go forth, if you are able, and withstand him.” Satan went out.

Then Hades said to his demons, “Secure well and strongly the gates of brass and the bars of iron. Attend to my bolts. Stand in order and watch everything, for if he comes in here, woe will seize us.” The forefathers, hearing this, began to rebuke him, saying, “O all-devouring and insatiable one, open, that the King of glory may come in.” David the prophet said, “Do you not know that I, while living in the world, prophesied this, saying, ‘Lift up your gates, O rulers’?” Isaiah said, “Foreseeing this by the Holy Spirit, I wrote, ‘The dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall be raised, and those in the earth shall rejoice. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’”

Hades, hearing the voice a second time, answered as though he did not know, “Who is this King of glory?” The angel of the Lord said, “The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Immediately, with these words, the bronze gates were shattered and the iron bars were broken, and all the dead who had been bound came out of the prisons, and we went with them. The King of glory came in the form of a man, and all the dark places of Hades were filled with light.

Immediately Hades cried out, “We have been conquered—woe to us! But who are you that you have such power and might? What are you who come here without sin, who appear small yet are of great power, lowly and exalted, slave and master, soldier and king, who have power over the dead and the living? You were nailed on the cross and placed in the tomb, and now you are free. You have destroyed all our power. Are you the Jesus about whom the chief ruler Satan told us, that through the cross and death you are to inherit the whole world?”

Then the King of glory seized the chief ruler Satan by the head and delivered him to his angels, saying, “With iron chains bind his hands and feet, his neck and his mouth.” Then he delivered him to Hades and said, “Take him and keep him secure until my second appearing.” Hades received Satan and said to him, “O heir of fire and punishment, enemy of the saints, what compelled you to bring about that the King of glory should be crucified, so that he would come here and deprive us of our power? Turn and see that not one of the dead has been left in me. All that you gained through the tree of knowledge you have lost through the tree of the cross. All your joy has been turned into grief, and in seeking to put to death the King of glory, you have put yourself to death.”

Hades continued, “Since I have received you and kept you safe, you shall learn by experience how many evils I will do to you. O arch-devil, beginning of death, root of sin and of all evil, what evil did you find in Jesus that you should seek his destruction? How have you dared such evil? How have you brought yourself to ruin by bringing down such a man into this darkness, through whom you have now been deprived of all who have died from eternity?”

While Hades was speaking to Satan, the King of glory stretched out his right hand and took hold of our forefather Adam and raised him. Then turning to the rest, he said, “Come with me, all who have died through the tree which he touched, for behold, I raise you all up again through the tree of the cross.” Then he brought them all out, and our forefather Adam was filled with joy and said, “I thank your majesty, O Lord, that you have brought me up out of the lowest Hades.” Likewise, all the prophets and the saints said, “We thank you, O Christ, Savior of the world, that you have brought our life up out of destruction.”

After they had spoken, the Savior blessed Adam with the sign of the cross on his forehead, and he did the same to the patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, and forefathers. He took them and went up out of Hades, and as he went, the holy fathers who accompanied him sang praises, saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hallelujah. To him be the glory of all the saints.”

Coming to Paradise, he took hold of our forefather Adam by the hand and delivered him, and all the righteous, to the archangel Michael. As they approached the gate of Paradise, two old men met them. The holy fathers said to them, “Who are you, who have not seen death and have not come down into Hades, but dwell in Paradise in your bodies and your souls?” One of them answered, “I am Enoch, who was pleasing to God and was taken up by him, and this is Elijah the Tishbite. We are to live until the end of the world, and then we are to be sent by God to withstand the Antichrist, to be slain by him, and after three days to rise again and be taken up into the clouds to meet the Lord.”

While they were speaking, another man came, lowly, carrying a cross upon his shoulders. The holy fathers said to him, “Who are you, who have the look of a robber? And what is the cross you bear upon your shoulder?” He answered, “I, as you say, was a robber and a thief in the world, and for these things the Jews seized me and delivered me to death on the cross along with our Lord Jesus Christ. While he was hanging on the cross, I saw the miracles that were done and believed in him. I entreated him, saying, ‘Lord, when you come into your kingdom, do not forget me.’ And immediately he said to me, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.’ Therefore I came to Paradise carrying my cross, and finding the archangel Michael, I said, ‘The Lord Jesus, who was crucified, has sent me here. Bring me, therefore, to the gate of Eden.’”

He continued, “The flaming sword, seeing the sign of the cross, opened to me and I entered. Then the archangel said to me, ‘Wait a little, for the forefather of the race of men, Adam, is also coming with the righteous, that they too may enter.’ And now, seeing you, I came to meet you.” The saints, hearing these things, all cried out with a loud voice, “Great is our Lord, and great is his strength.”

“All these things we saw and heard, we the two brothers who also have been sent by Michael the Archangel, have been ordered to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord, but first to go to the Jordan and to be baptized there.” They said, “We also went and were baptized with the rest of the dead who had been raised, and after that we came to Jerusalem and celebrated the Passover of the resurrection.”

“But now we are going away, being unable to stay here. The love of God, even the Father, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Having written these things and secured the scrolls, they gave half to the chief priests and half to Joseph and Nicodemus, and they immediately disappeared to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

That is The Descent of Christ into Hades, or The Harrowing of Hell, in the Gospel of Nicodemus. 

Remember, Christ is king, and that changes everything.