The Lion of Judah has Triumphed!

By Hazel Holland

"Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed." Revelation 5:5

I was compelled to paint this picture of Jesus Christ’s triumph over death after discovering that He wasn’t in soul sleep while He was dead in the grave... After a lifetime of believing error, I was overwhelmed with joy and many tears as I discovered the length and depth that Jesus Christ went to for you and me. He literally left no stone unturned! His powerful words from the cross reverberated throughout His creation causing even the rocks to be torn apart when He cried out, “It is finished!”

Unfortunately, the KJV translates both the words Sheol and Hades as grave, death and hell, but this can be shown to be incorrect as it does not accurately represent their meaning. Prior to Jesus Christ’s ascension to Heaven biblical writers tell us that both believers and unbelievers alike entered Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek)—the destination of the spirit and soul at death.

Apparently Sheol was divided into two separate sections, an upper part and a lower part, denoting the differences of where the righteous and wicked dwelt. In the Talmud the wicked were in torment, while the righteous were in bliss. This is probably what Christ was referring to when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus…

So while Christ’s body was laid in the tomb, His spirit/soul went to Hades (the lower parts of the earth), because he died under the conditions of those living prior to the resurrection. That is why the Scriptures make several references to Christ’s entry into Hades that are distinct from being in the tomb.

“Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades (where souls are in the lowest parts of the Earth), nor did His flesh experience corruption (in the grave)’” (Acts 2:31; NRSV; See also Psalm 16:10). Since Christ was not abandoned in Hades, this can only mean that He was actually there, but not left there! "I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction?" (Hosea 13:14; ASV).

There’s an interesting Scripture in 1 Peter 3:18-22 where it seems that Jesus went into Hades while His body was resting in the tomb in order to announce the completion of His atonement. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison…” (1 Peter 3:18-19; NASB).

In the next chapter Peter says, “For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they may be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6; NIV). It seems to suggest that after all things were accomplished by Christ, He went to Hades to reveal the rest of the story of salvation and to announce to them that “It is finished!” “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15).

After the resurrection we see in Ephesians 4:8-9, “Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high. He led captive a host of captives, and gave gifts to men’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth (Hades)?" This could not be referring to His grave because His tomb was above ground as were the other graves of that day.

Now that Christ has ascended to heaven and taken a train of captives with Him we know that it is clear that believers now go directly to be with Christ in heaven when they die. Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better…” (Phil. 1:21-22; NASB). Paul continues, “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; NASB).

The author of Hebrews clearly states where the spirits of righteous men made perfect in Christ go after they die when he says, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire…But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God… You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…” (Hebrews 12:18-24; NIV).

Now the Scriptures that used to be so confusing make perfect sense… Speaking of the Second Coming of Christ, Paul says, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Paul is saying that when Jesus comes back the second time He will bring back the spirits of the righteous (those who have died in Christ) to be united with their new glorified bodies, and we who are alive will also be changed and receive glorified bodies, and be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air (See 1 Thessalonians 3:15-18).

Surely, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed! (Revelation 5:5). By faith we enter into His triumph!
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Go here to read further details about the painting.
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(I want to give credit to Dr. Cherry Brandstater for many of the thoughts I have expressed in this post. I also want to publicly thank her for her labor of love in making the "Shadow or Substance?"-- State of the Dead Studies under Spirit available for those eager to know truth. My life has been changed forever by His Truth!)