Jesus' descent into hell/es

Harrowing of Hell, from Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, folio 166 (14th cent.)

La creencia cristiana es que, entre la crucifixión y la resurrección, Jesús descendió a los infiernos donde predicó y llevó la salvación a las almas que se encontraban allí. La tradición cristiana afirma que no se trataba del “infierno”, como el estado de castigo eterno por el pecado, sino de un reino donde moran todos los muertos.

Christian theology

La tradición del descenso triunfal de Jesús a los infiernos, también conocido como “horrores del infierno”, pasó a formar parte de la teología de la Iglesia, tal como se afirma en el Credo de los Apóstoles, que es la declaración de los principios fundamentales de la creencia cristiana, cuyo origen se remonta al siglo II. La versión católica romana del credo afirma que Jesús “fue crucificado, padeció, falleció y fue sepultado. Descendió a los infiernos; al tercer día resucitó de entre los muertos”. La 1ª carta de Pedro, capítulo 3, versículo 19 afirma que Cristo “predicó a los espíritus encarcelados”.

In his exegesis on this verse in The Interpreter's Bible, Achibald M. Hunter points out that

Exegetes have differed about the interpretation of every word.... The simplest meaning is that our Lord descended between his passion and resurrection, to preach to certain spirits imprisoned in Hades.... But who were the imprisoned spirits? Just possibly the fallen angels of Gen. 6:1–4. Much more probably Peter meant the spirits of the rebellious generation who perished in the Flood.

Hunter says that the early Christians may also have been concerned about

... the fate of those who had died before the gospel was preached.... Christ went down “in the spirit,” says Peter, into Hades,... in order to offer salvation to sinners who had died without hearing the gospel and getting a chance to repent.... In the apocryphal Gospel According to St. Peter (ca. A.D. 130), among the wonders attending the Crucifixion we read the question, “Hast thou preached to those who have fallen asleep?” To which the answer was heard from the Cross, “Yes.” And in the Middle Ages the harrowing of hell was a common theme in popular poetry and theology.

Jesus’ account of this event

En un dictado dado el Domingo de Resurrección, el 6 de abril de 1969, a través del Mensajero Mark L. Prophet, Jesús dijo que vino a exhortarnos con el mismo sermón que predicó a

... los espíritus rebeldes que en los días de Noé fueron desobedientes a Dios.... Prediqué y prediqué y hablé una y otra vez a cada alma que encontré allí encadenada por la esclavitud y la desesperanza. Muchos me miraban con unos ojos opacos, la opacidad de la desolación, de los siglos de fatiga, del miedo y la duda, desgastados por el tiempo. La luz misma de Dios pareció haberse apagado en ellos y yo traté de reavivarla entonces, como lo hago hoy, reavivarla en vosotros a la manera de Dios.

A requirement for all who would ascend

En un dictado del 19 de junio de 1975, Saint Germain habló sobre el llamado de los Guardianes de la Llama para que formen parte de esta misión continua para alcanzar a las almas atrapadas en el plano astral:

Cuando determináis que seréis un servidor del mundo con Jesús, Nada, Uriel y Aurora, prestad atención. Porque servís en el punto en el que la humanidad crea turbulencia, confusión y ritmos oscuros.

This is why Jesus descended into the astral plane in order to preach to these lower forms of life. This is not only the requirement of those who ascend (because it is a requirement of passing through the sixth ray), but it is the mark of the Piscean conqueror. And this is what you shall be—sons and daughters of dominion of the water element bearing the cross of Christ, bearing that cross in that solar-plexus chakra, destined to be the purple and gold of the Elohim.

Thus every thrust of fire, every momentum of victory in the heart rises to the throat for release in the sacred Word and then descends to the solar plexus to turn back the tides of darkness. This is the momentum that you have generated by your devotion. This is the momentum you must keep. This is the mystery that I show you and that I show the saints ascended and those in the etheric planeserving on the sixth ray, who are taking their initiations.

These souls carry torches, and they descend wearing robes of white. They pass through a dark tunnel, one which would remind you of the catacombs where the early Christians fled, where all is night and blackness. It is a dark tunnel, as though it goes into the very bowels of the earth. These souls descend carrying the flame that you have invoked, the flame of ministration and service. They are allowed to descend into the astral plane because you hold the balance and the fulcrum in the physical plane through your decrees and invocations.

And why do they descend into the astral plane and why do they carry torches? Not only do they do so to light their way, but they use the torches to find the children of God who are lost in these caverns, in these caves that are wet and dark—children of God who have been lost between embodiments, lost for hundreds of years who were taken there as in the worst horror movies that you could imagine, far beyond those that have been created upon earth.

These are souls of light, children of light who have been kidnapped by the fallen ones, and it is the ministration of the Christed ones to descend deeper and deeper into the astral plane in order to rescue the children of light, to draw them up again into the light of day and into the dawn of the Christ and the victory of the Mother. So these Christed ones are going forth into the astral plane this night because you have cared enough to keep the flame.

See also

Crucifixion

Sources

Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 32, no. 23, June 4, 1989.