Holy Saturday is the quiet, somber day between the terrors of the Cross on Good Friday (which we can only call Good in hindsight); and the breathtaking triumph of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.

But on Holy Saturday, Christ was dead, buried in a tomb. What does the God-Man do while dead? Where does He go?

The Apostles’ Creed says, He descended into hell. That’s a controversial phrase, and I don’t want to rehash all the traditions and even superstitions that have attached themselves to this article, except to say this: The clause is not referring to Dante’s fiery underworld of the damned. It doesn’t mean Gehenna hell, the place of fiery torment reserved for the Devil, his demons, and the wicked dead. Rather it’s referring to Sheol or Hades—the realm of the dead. In other words, Christ went the way that every child of Adam and Eve is destined to go—into death.

So today, as we remember Christ, the light of the world, lying in the darkness of the grave, I thought it might be helpful to consider the section of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) that addresses this part of the Creed: Lord’s Day 16, Questions 41-44.

Q. 41: Why was He “buried”?
A. His burial testifies that He really died.

The death of Christ atoned for human sins. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬). By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (Romans 8:3-4 ESV).

Only God could offer a sacrifice worthy of God’s offended holiness and justice; but only a human could offer an atonement for human sin. So Christ, the God-Man, true God and true Man, through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God in our place (Hebrews 9:14 ESV).

Moreover, our future resurrection depends on Christ’s resurrection. If Christ were not truly dead, He did not truly rise from the dead, and there is no future resurrection for believers. Sadder still, we are still dead in our sins, Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬). But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

Why was Christ buried, then? The Book of Common Prayer states it elegantly, saying that when Christ didst rest in the sepulchre, He didst thereby sanctify the grave to be a bed of hope to [God’s] people. He really did die, and by being placed in a tomb, being obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:8 ESV), His sacrifice goes all the way down to the grave. His death sanctifies us in death, just as it sanctifies us in life.

Q. 42: Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
A. Our death does not pay the debt of our sins. Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life.

Psalm 49:7-8 teaches an important lesson: Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice (ESV‬‬). And again, Mark 8:37: For what can a man give in return for his soul? (ESV‬‬)

Death is the wages of sin; it is the penalty for sin (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23). It is not a restitution for sin the the sight of God, as we saw earlier. For an imperfect man cannot by offer of his own life satisfy the perfect justice of God. Your death cannot atone for anyone’s sin—not your own, and not someone else’s.

After his rebellious son Absalom was killed, King David wept: O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son! (2 Samuel‬ ‭18‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬) St. Paul, seeing how his fellow Jews were rejecting their Christ, lamented: For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh (Romans‬ ‭9‬:‭3‬ ‭KJV‬‬). But alas—none of us can do anyone else’s dying for them, not in a way that would ransom them from hell. It has to be the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

But for all of us in Christ, His death has transformed our own death from a naked judgment that delivers us to hell; into the way that opens into eternal life. He delivers us wretches from this body of death (Romans 7:24). He has died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him (1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

He Himself goes with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, taking us the way He has made, guarding us with the rod and staff of His Cross; so that He might deliver us safe to His Father’s house, to dwell and feast with Him forever (Psalm 23:4-6).

Q. 43: What further advantage do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross?
A. Through Christ’s death our old selves are crucified, put to death, and buried with Him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead we may dedicate ourselves as an offering of gratitude to Him.

We have seen thus far that Christ’s burial proves He was really dead. This assures us of present justification before God, and future resurrection to glory. Christ’s burial even sanctifies the grave for His people.

Now we see further benefits of the death of Christ for us in this life enumerated in Question 43. First, our old selves have been put to death and buried with Him. So it is written:

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him … So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
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Romans 6:6-8, 11-12 ESV

And elsewhere: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

Joined to Christ by faith, your old self has died with Him. This is what finally empowers us to even begin to say no to sin. Our old self was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), and now by His Spirit living in us, He is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

Again, the Book of Common Prayer teaches us to pray that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that, through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits.

But there is a further benefit. For although we have died with Christ and are being trained to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, we are still sinners—the old crucified Adam still gasps and claws for life and breath (Romans 7:15-25).

This being the case, even our good works would be polluted with sin (Isaiah 64:6), except that by His atoning sacrifice, He has not only justified and sanctified us—He also justifies and sanctifies our works, so that they are pleasing to God. So we are able to present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship (Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

So Christ died also that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies—Satan, and our own sinful flesh—might serve [God] without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days (Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭74‬-‭75‬ ‭ESV‬‬). It is in Christ’s holiness and righteousness that we offer up our worship and work to God; not our own. And we can do this without fear that God would have no regard for us and our offerings, because He will accept them through Christ (Hebrews 13:15-16).

And now finally, for Question 44, and that pesky clause about Jesus’ descent into hell.

Q. 44: Why does the creed add: “He descended into hell”?
A. To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, especially on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.

This is crucial to understand. Christ did indeed suffer the unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of hell, both before He went to the Cross, and during His crucifixion. Psalm 18:4-5 should be read as a prayer from the lips of Christ: The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me (Psalm‬ ‭18‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

2 Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him to be sin. Galatians 3:13 says Christ became a curse. Romans 8:3 says: By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh. Christ suffered in His body as sin itself, in other words. He not only bore the curse, He became the curse for us. Christ suffered in His own body and souls the holy wrath of God’s infinite, eternal justice at sin itself.

The sweat like drops of blood, judgment, the rejection, the spit, the mocking, the beating, the gasping for air, the thirst that could not be quenched, the experience of God-forsakenness that drove Him to howl: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?; those are the unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of hell into which Christ was plunged. He was baptized for a time into torment, so that, being baptized into Him, and into His death, we might be rescued from hell.

And so in times of distress, in times of temptation, indeed—when we have been met with temptation and have fallen face-first into it; this is when Satan would say to us: Ah, now see—you have failed God again. Or has His grace failed you? What a fool you have been, to think God would ever care for the likes of you! So you had better just give in and sin even more! After all, since you’re damned anyway you might as well enjoy yourself while you can.

It is in those moments when we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2 ESV)—and remember that redeeming us, His Bride, was the joy for which He “descended into hell,” as it were: suffering the agony and humiliation of our failure, so that we might be spared it. His descent into those hellish torments didn’t just make it possible for you to be saved—it actually saved you, saves you, and will save you at the last judgment. He did not suffer all that so you would be lost.

It is in those moments of struggle, of distress, of despair, that you can say to yourself (in earshot of the Devil): He descended into hell. And because of that, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

James 4:7 instructs us: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬). One marvelous way to do this is by remembering that Christ descended into hell in His sufferings and death. That means there is no more debt for sin outstanding in your case. No condemnation is as real as scourge and thorns and nails that tore Christ’s flesh, and the Cross which He died. Sin’s guilt and power over you is as empty as Christ’s tomb is now. No condemnation is as true as the scars in Christ’s resurrected, glorified hands and feet—in which your name is written (Isaiah 49:16), and which stand as a permanent witness in heaven on your behalf.