Hades, the realm of the dead, lay in impenetrable darkness, but the Light of the World penetrated it. Darkness with its hopelessness was entered by Light of Jesus Christ. He entered Hades to show that death does not have the final word. Life has the final word. Christ descended to earth by Incarnation to be one with living humans. Christ by descent into Hades was to make Himself One with dead humans. He who had preached to the living also preached to the dead. The dead who had never heard of Jesus heard Him preach.
“18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.” (1 Peter 3:18–20 (NIV)
