The Gospel We Never Hear

 In the Book of Enoch, there is a story where Enoch traveled through the spiritual realm and came upon the prison of the spirits that corrupted humanity. It says that there Enoch proclaimed their judgment. The Apostle Peter taught that Christ did the same thing. As he teaches, our Lord went to the spirits imprisoned and preached to them after he died on the cross (1Peter 3:19). If we remain true to the Book of Enoch, the content of what our Lord preached must have been about how these spirits were defeated. They were the ones responsible for our corruption, they had the power of death, and even though imprisoned they still wielded this power over us.

When Enoch made his judgment against these spirits he would speak of their doom. However, it would be Christ that would deliver their doom. He did so by taking away the source of their power. In his own body he took upon himself the source of our corruption. He gave his body over to their power of death and by his death he ended their power. He did so by the resurrection of his body, a body that was now raised in immortality.  It is in this body that he now promises that we will have the same immortality, if we follow him, which ultimately ends the power that these spirits had over us.

When we are baptized the scripture teaches that we are buried with Christ. As we go under the waters we ritualistically participate in his death. We symbolically die with him, and we also symbolically go to those spirits in prison to proclaim their defeat. When we come out of the water, we receive what Christ has, the power to overcome death. The Apostle Paul called this power a down payment (Ephesians 1:14). It’s a downpayment because it will achieve for us what we have experienced ritualistically in our baptism, which is a resurrected body. However, we still need to die and be raised. We also still need to go before those spirits and proclaim their defeat.

I don’t know how these teachings about our future hope became obscured by teachings about going to heaven or hell when we die. What Jesus taught in the gospel was the resurrection. The alternative was being in bondage to the god of this world, one of those spirits. He even says that at the last judgment the accursed will end up in the prison that was made for those spirits (Matthew 25:41).  There was no teaching in the gospel on avoiding hell and getting to heaven. The teaching was how to get ready for the coming kingdom on earth or what happens when you choose not to be a part of it.

With all this focus on going to heaven when we die our Lord’s teaching on the resurrection becomes bonus material. We do know that we will be with the Lord when we die but we are not with him to remain in a heavenly realm.  We are with him after death for the purpose of being resurrected back here. Our “heaven” will be on earth. In addition, we also know that until that time we must proclaim the defeat of those spirits in prison, which continues after we die. It’s a great mystery but it’s one I think we need to get right.