The Spirits in Prison

THE SPIRITS IN PRISON
By Marshall L. Vaughn
Mt. Enterprise, TX

Some have the idea that while our Lord’s body was in the tomb his spirit went to hell and preached to the spirits therein, but such is foreign to the Word of God.

According to I Peter 3:18, Christ was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Christ was raised from the tomb by the same spirit that preached through Noah, a preacher of righteousness (II Peter 2:5), to those disobedient people whose souls were in bondage to sin. In Psa. 142:7, David says, Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. Zech. 9:12 — Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.

We find there is no hope for those in hell, where the rich man is, in torment. Isa. 61:1 — The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

He hath sent me to build up the broken hearted, to preach liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Paul said in Romans 8:2 that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. In I Cor. 12 Paul speaks of the different gifts, all given by the same spirit.

So we find that the spirit that raised Christ’s body from the dead has worked through all ages, accomplishing his purpose in all things.

I am thankful to the Lord that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made ME free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:11 — But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.

Reprint from the Baptist Progress, January 19,1939 (as reprinted in The Baptist Waymark, Vol II, No. 6, January-February 1992)