Mary, who seems to have had some special interest in the Savior, came early to the tomb, and weeping, discovered that the body of her Master was not there. A voice spake to her, saying, "Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I AM NOT YET ASCENDED TO MY FATHER: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:16, 17.)
Here we have the assertion of Jesus, Himself, that during the three days immediately subsequent to His crucifixion, while His body lay in the tomb, His spirit did not go into heaven or the presence of His Father. Logically, it must follow, neither did that of the thief. The generally accepted idea, therefore, of the thief being saved, must inevitably fall to the ground. Jesus asserted that "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," and upon His return to the earth, He informed Mary that He had not ascended to His Father.
The question naturally arises, where had He been during these three days? We are not left in doubt upon this point, but scripture plainly points out the character of the duties He was called upon to perform, while His body rested in peace in the new-made tomb of Joseph. He to whom Jesus transferred the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and who stood at the head of the twelve apostles, would certainly be accepted as a competent witness in this matter; and, by turning to his epistles, we gain this information: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also He went and PREACHED UNTO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON." (I. Peter 3:18, 19.) Here we have an account of what He was doing during the three days absence from the body: preaching "unto the spirits in prison," also a very clear explanation as to where the thief went. It was to a prison world, where he could have an opportunity to hear the Savior preach the gospel of deliverance to the captive spirits, "which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." (I. Peter 3:20.)
We now understand what Isaiah, the prophet, meant, when speaking of Jesus. He says, "That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth." (Isaiah 49:9.) And again, "He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." (Isaiah 61:1.) And again, "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isaiah 52:7.)
How appropriately do these passages coincide with, and support the assertion of Peter, relative to Jesus preaching to the "spirits in prison." Men, who in the days of the flood failed to obey the commandments of God, and for two thousand long, weary years had suffered the penalty for their wrong doing, had been fulfilling the principle so clearly enunciated by our Savior, when He said, "Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." (Matt. 5:26.) "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." (Luke 12:47, 48.)
With what joy must these long-suffering spirits, held in confinement, have greeted the Redeemer when He appeared and preached to them the glad tidings of great joy, and presented for their acceptance the EVERLASTING GOSPEL! Through its means they could have their prison doors opened, and themselves delivered from the grasp of Lucifer, the son of the morning, who is appropriately described as one who "made the earth to tremble, and did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners." (Isaiah 14:16, 17.)
How grand and glorious is the plan of salvation that the Creator has ordained for His children, reaching from eternity to eternity, and covering in its details every possible emergency; controlling, guiding and directing their footsteps while in a pre-existent state; teaching them while sojourners upon the earth, and extending beyond the grave into the spirit world, there to cause their hearts to rejoice and gladden under its benign influence, growing and increasing in might and majesty, power and glory, as the ages roll by, until the inspired words of our Divine Master shall be fulfilled: "Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess."
Well might Jesus say to the apostles just previous to His death, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live * * * Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice." (John 5:25-28.)
Turning again to the epistle of Peter, we find this assertion, "Who shall give account to him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (I. Peter 4:5, 6.)
Jesus, upon one occasion, when explaining the gospel to the apostles, said, "Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt. 12:32.)