Night Two = Thursday night; Day Two = Friday day

Photo by The Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD+

Matthew 12

The Words of The LORD JESUS CHRIST

recorded by Matthew

courtesy of Biblegateway.com

But HE+ answered and said unto them, 

An evil and adulterous generation 

seeketh after a sign; 

and there shall no sign be given to it, 

but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days 

and three nights in the whale's belly; 

so shall the SON+ of Man be

three days and three nights

in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment 

with this generation, and shall condemn it: 

because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; 

and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

I Peter 3:18-19 

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;

 ~  ~  ~ 

Two nights (Wednesday and Thursday), and ... counting Friday ... two days already spent in the heart of the earth... 

The LORD spent those nights and days PREACHING, not fighting satan!  

When HE+ said, " It is finished, FATHER... "  , the battle with satan was fought and won through HIS+ adamic flesh, even though His+ body lay in the grave. 

When HE+ descended into the heart of the earth, the battle was OVER !  His+ descent in HIS+ Spirit was to preach that HE+, the MESSIAH+, had conquered sin, hell*, and death!  

HE+ --- and HE+ alone --- had the keys to hell* and to death. 

I Peter 4:6

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.

Revelation 1:18

I AM HE+ 

that liveth, 

and was dead;  

and behold, 

I+ AM alive 

for evermore, 

Amen; 

and have the keys of hell* and of death.

[ Keeping in mind that "hell" before The LORD'S descent into the heart of the earth consisted of 2 parts: Hades (Sheol) and Abraham's bosom.  "Hell" was the generalized word used in the KJV encompassing both parts, even though there was a great gulf fixed between the parts and none could cross over from one part to the next. See Luke 16:26].

1. Luke 16:26
   And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.