Has anyone ever been taught or read in the Bible that during the 3 days before Christ rose from the dead he went to hell and did battle with satan?
It is unfortunate that in our Bibles the same English word "hell" has been used for three different places. Once we are clear on which "hell" Christ went to, we will also be clear as to the purpose of His going there. (And no, the Lord Jesus Christ did NOT do battle with Satan in "hell", since Satan was already thoroughly defeated at the cross, and his works were DESTROYED: "... that through death He [Christ] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb.2:15).
"Hell" can mean either (1)
Hades-Sheol -- the abode of the souls of the departed dead (Luke 16:19-31) or (2)
Gehenna-the Lake of Fire or the lake of eternal damnation(Rev. 20:10-15) -- or (3)
Tartarus -- the pit of darkness (perhaps even "the bottomless pit") where sinful angels from before the Flood are "chained", awaiting their final judgment (2 Pet.2:4-5).
The Lord prophesied that He would be in Hades (hell) for three days and three nights, between His crucifixion and His resurrection: "For as Jonas [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS
IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH." (Matt. 12:40). This is also called "the lower parts of the earth" in Eph. 4:9.
According to both the OT and NT, Hades-Sheol is "in the heart of the earth", which science tells us is a hot molten core, and thus corresponds to the place of initial torment for unrighteous souls, as well as disobedient fallen angels (which regions apparently exist side by side in the heart of the earth).
Before the resurrection of Christ, Hades had two compartments -- "Abraham's bosom" and "the place of torment", and between these there was an impassable chasm (Lk. 16:26).
When Christ descended into Hades He did two things:
1)
Proclaimed His victory over Satan to the disobedient spirits in Tartarus and ALSO PRONOUCED THEIR DOOM (1 Pet.3:18-20).* [Tartarus is a separate region from Hades]
2)
"He led captivity captive" -- brought the souls and spirits of all the OT saints out of Hades (where they were "captive" in "Abraham's bosom"), thus destroying "the gates of hell", and took them to Paradise along with the repentant thief who was justified the moment he believed on the Lord (Matt. 27:51-53; Lk. 23:42-43; Eph. 4:8-10; Heb. 12:22-23).
*1 Peter 3:18-20 has been reinterpreted and misinterpreted by those who refuse to believe God's record that disobedient and lustful angels came down to earth and had intercourse with human women (Gen. 6:1-7), thereby producing a race of giants and men of renown, and also increasing sin and evil on this earth. Peter refers to these sinful angels and says that "Christ preached to the SPIRITS in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah". The judgment of the Flood was a direct result of the unmitigated wickedness of mankind through the agency of these fallen angels.
These "spirits in prison" are called "the angels that sinned" in 2 Pet. 2:4 and "the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation [to cohabit with human women]". Both Peter and Jude refer to these angels in connection with sexual immorality and it's judgment (2 Pet.2"1-14; Jude 4-13).
So what did Christ "preach" to them?
We know that Hell-the Lake of Fire was "prepared for the devil and his angels", so Christ did not "preach the Gospel" to sinful angels. The word preach [Greek
kerux] can mean either the preaching of the Gospel or a "proclamation" of any kind. So Christ proclaimed or "preached" the final doom of Satan and his angels to these angels waiting in Tartarus for their final judgment. In other words, as Lord of all creation, as the conqueror of Satan, sin, hell and death,
Christ the Judge pronouced His judgement on these angels while He was "in the lower parts of the earth".
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