Word of Salvation – Vol.51 No.36 – July 2006
Who’s Dead and Buried?
A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema on Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 16
Scripture Reading: Luke 23:26-47
Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Death is often called the great divider. It removes us from each other in the most conclusive way. In this world it is the last and final goodbye. That’s why funerals take on the character they do. There could be nothing more separating than standing beside the open grave of a loved one. Death brings a terrible sadness and grief. Physically speaking, it is the end.
But, spiritually speaking, the Lord’s Day before us turns it right around. This brings you real comfort when you’re confronted by death. It does this because it speaks of One who has met death ahead of us. The One who could only be God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He is the One who has conquered death and the grave.
Why He died
Let’s see, then, how what He did becomes yours – right here, right now! We see, in the first place… WHY HE DIED.
This theme has been continued from Lord’s Day 15. Christ has taken upon Himself what is rightfully ours. The judgment from God which says that the one who sins must die is taken by Jesus on Himself.
Ezekiel 18 clearly states several times, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” And this is confirmed in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.” Nothing less than death itself is what God’s law and justice requires of the sinner.
And we have sinned – every single one of us! We shared in that act of Adam when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He acted for us, and every day proves that we sinned in him and with him as we continue in that sin. And we share in the punishment of death for that sin. God was clear with Adam about the consequences of breaking that covenant.
So for Jesus to bear our sins, He must die. What a thought! The sinless human nature of Jesus Christ, the only man who deserved to live; yet He was the One who experienced the most total physical and spiritual death. Physical death – that separation of the soul from the body. And spiritual death – the separation of both body and soul from God. The only One ever who deserved to live – He died! And it was for you and me!
Now, let that sink in for a while. It’s all for us. There was no other way that the full penalty of sin could be paid for us! It’s like the hymn we sometimes sing: “Thy power alone, O Son of God, Can this sore bondage break. No other work save Thine, No other blood will do; No strength save that which is divine, Can bear me safely through.”
In answer to the question regarding why Christ had to go all the way to death, Answer 40 of the Catechism says, “Because God’s justice and truth demand it: only the death of God’s Son could pay for our sins.” And then to support the fact that Christ did actually die, the Catechism in Answer 41 tells us that he was buried, because, “His burial testifies that he really died.”
Why is this answer so important? It’s important because, in the past, there have been theories invented by unbelievers that Jesus didn’t really die. They are theories that are still floating around today – the theories that newspapers delight to publish every time Easter rolls around!
One theory is that Jesus only became unconscious on the cross. So he just swooned or something similar, and was later revived by Joseph of Arimathea. Another theory is that he only pretended to be dead.
Yet, if we hear that phrase in the Apostles’ Creed, “was crucified, dead, and buried,” we know the truth is different. Because these words even sound like the nails driven home in a coffin lid! “Was crucified, dead and buried” makes it quite clear that Jesus was really and truly dead. In fact, the burial of Jesus was only allowed by the authorities because He was actually dead. John 19:33-34 tells us, “when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”
Out came blood and water! Clear medical proof that Jesus was dead! Which is why, upon the testimony of the soldiers, Pontius Pilate assured himself that Jesus was really dead before he gave permission to Joseph of Arimathea to take the body of Christ, and lay it in a tomb.
Then, following on from the statement in our Apostles’ Creed concerning Christ’s crucifixion, death and burial, there is also added, “He descended into hell.” Christ’s going to hell is tied in with the whole movement and process of the incarnation, of His being on this earth. This, too, assures us that Jesus truly shared our human condition – right to the bitter end!
This has not always been believed by Christians, however. From the 4th to the 16th centuries many Christians believed that Christ went to an actual place called hell after He was buried. Even today, the Roman Catholic Church takes Christ’s descending into hell as meaning that He literally went to hell to suffer for three days, and then He took the Old Testament believers who had died out of hell to heaven.
Yet our Bible shows us that the soul of Jesus went immediately to heaven after death. How can we forget what our Lord told that thief upon the cross? We read in Luke 23:43 that Christ said to him quite clearly, “today you will be with me in paradise.” And a short while after that He says, as we read in Luke 23 verse 46, “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.”
What, then, do we believe with that phrase, “He descended into hell”? Here we come directly to Answer 44. There we read that our Confession about what Jesus descending into hell means, “To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, especially on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.”
Who can ever forget that cry of our Lord in Gethsemane? Luke records it in chapter 22 verse 42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Even then, congregation, He was in anguish as He anticipated what was to come. Even then His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Now, if the anguish in the Garden was so terrible, consider the crucifixion and death itself. And He did it all! Not one of his people will ever suffer the torments of hell in his soul, as Jesus did for us. When He cried out in Matthew 24:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, He was crying out from the deepest depths of hell. He was experiencing that total, everlasting wrath of God, which no mere creature could have carried.
It was for you – my brother, my sister – that our dear Lord was suffering. It was for all the hells due to the people of God that He hung there and was humiliated. And He especially did so in those few hours upon the cross! At death His suffering was complete. And so we have the tremendous comfort of Answer 44.
If you think that you have ever had it rough, as though life has served you up a bit of a raw deal, what do you think Jesus Christ went through?
Perhaps you have suffered intensely. But don’t think God ever left you. He’s been there – He’s suffered just as much as you have. And even far more than you ever will!
This can sometimes be hard to understand. But the Bible tells us so! And our faith knows it is so. Only God Himself could pay the price.
In addition to all this, God has limited the suffering of the believer. Whatever you go through can only go up to a certain point. That certain point is your physical death. Then your suffering ends.
Why we die
And this brings us to the second point. This is… WHY WE DIE.
We have just seen that the believer’s physical death is the end of our sufferings. But this may pose a question for us. As Question 42 asks, “Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?”
In reply the Catechism answers, “Our death does not pay the debt of our sins. Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance to eternal life.”
We see, in the first place, that our dying cannot pay for all the wrong we have done. Our dying would not be the death of a righteous man. So my death is not a satisfaction for my sin. I won’t die under the curse of God as a punishment for my sins.
For the unbeliever, though, this is the situation. For him, or her, the wages of sin are, indeed, death. For the Christian those wages have been paid for by our Substitute, Jesus Christ. His death was the satisfaction, the right payment for our sin. So our dying is no longer a punishment.
Mind you, sometimes we think and talk of it as though it were. We tell God quite defiantly, “I don’t deserve to die!” “I don’t see my dying as being of any use to myself or those around me!” “I’ve still got heaps to do!”
So death becomes an inconvenience. We aren’t fully prepared to understand, in the words of Galatians 3 verse 13, that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” If there’s any stigma for you in death, nail that stigma to where it belongs! Yes, put it on the cross with Christ! Don’t become so attached to this world that you fail to see what it is that Christ has done for you!
After all, isn’t that the point of Easter? Jesus Christ died the spiritual death for us! No longer is the believer under the curse. Christ has become that curse for us. And because He has become that curse for us, the second part of Answer 42 can declare that Christ’s dying “puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life.” So when you die, dear believer, you are, by God’s grace and love, taken from this sinful world, and from your sinful nature, into eternal glory!
The Bible clearly teaches that to be away from our physical bodies is to be present with the Lord. Dying for us is to our ultimate benefit! To die is to gain! The curse has become a blessing! In the words of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” That which once showed man’s separation from God, has, by His great love, become the most surest sign of being joined with Him!
And considering what we’ve just seen, isn’t our response to be like that of the apostle Paul? As he witnessed to the Philippians in his letter to them, chapter 1:21-24, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary that I remain in the body.”
Like Paul, Christ’s death has become for us the guarantee that our death means eternal life. But if God chooses that we are to continue living here, shouldn’t we thank Him, regardless, for so great a salvation?
This is very much the substance to Answer 43. In describing the advantages of Christ’s sacrifice and suffering, it says, “Through Christ’s death our old selves are crucified, put to death, and buried with him, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us, but that instead we may dedicate ourselves as an offering of gratitude to Him.” An offering of gratitude! Paul could see his staying on earth as being able to continue an offering of gratitude! Our being here is for faithful service for our Lord.
Christ’s death didn’t only take away our guilt. His death also broke the power of sinful lusts and desires. Jesus died to make us holy – to purify our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why we live
The third part of Lord’s Day 16 concerns our response. From having seen WHY HE DIED, and WHY WE DIE, we have to realise now… WHY WE LIVE!
Congregation, we have been justified. We know that we are cleansed from the guilt of our sins. But, brother, sister, young person, how are you tackling the power of your sins? In which ways are you recognising Christ’s doing and dying with your everyday actions?
When we read through the New Testament letters we see that this issue really matters. As Paul so often does in his letters, he first tells the people about what they are in Christ, then he tells them how they are to live out of that great fact in their day-to-day actions. The theological word used to describe this is sanctification. Many of us would know that word. It means that we should be purifying ourselves, in keeping with the work of the Holy Spirit in us, so that we become more like Christ. Sanctify means to become holy – as God is holy!
Sounds difficult? It is! It’s terribly difficult, impossible actually, humanly speaking. Yet the God who calls us and delivers us from the guilt of sin can also deliver us from its power, through His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit. He applies what Christ has done in our lives. So let’s be witnesses to that love which is above all loves – the love which has come down to us, sinful and inadequate people that we are. Let’s heed the word of the apostle in Romans 6:13, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life!”
WHY do WE LIVE? Because He died!
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
Dearest Lord Jesus, how can we even begin to thank you for your doing and dying on our behalf? To realise again what you went through for us humbles us completely – you did it all!
But Lord, we do plead, work in us by your Spirit – the Holy Spirit – to make us witnesses to this great love, the love to the loveless shown, that we may lovely be.
In your precious Name we pray,
Amen.