The death and resurrection of Jesus are too often mentioned in a superficial manner.
Jesus Christ grappled with man’s greatest fear and vanquished our unconquerable enemy.
This is not a subject to address with trite phrases and comments, any more than today’s annual memorial of the fallen in both World Wars and in subsequent conflicts.
The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished what no other man has done nor can do.
At His crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary, Jesus was grappling with and overcoming death, not in the abstract but in the definite. Behind this, He was grappling with the hidden and unmeasurable depths of justice due to the wickedness of sin, and not just any sin but the sins of an innumerable number of human beings whom He came into this world to redeem.
How can preachers address the greatest of human battles and self-sacrifice in trite and superficial phrases?
Truly, Jesus speaks of it in a few sentences and the New Testament writers use shorthand terms, but not superficially nor in a glib fashion.
Resurrection
Conjoint with His cruel and cursed death is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, so that His rejection, crucifixion and death is not a defeat but introductory to His glorious resurrection, breaking the bands of death, spoiling principalities and demonic powers Col 2:15, exposing them publicly, announcing victory to His people 1Cor 15:57 and deliverance to the captives Lk 4:18, so that those who sit in darkness may see a great Light Lk 1:79.
His resurrection shows and teaches us so much. Do people admire it? Are people impressed with the artists of the entertainment world? What is that celebrity to the glory of Jesus Christ as the Destroyer of death and the Creator of eternal life 1Cor 15:45? Let it be the celebrities of science, music, art, invention or whatever, He is fairer than them all.
“Thou art fairer than the children of men.”
Psalm 45:2.
Why did He die and why did He rise again? Jesus dealt with the punishment that was due to His people’s sin. “And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” Mat 1:21.
It is central to Jesus’ teaching and to the apostle Paul’s teaching 1Cor 11:24.
Facing Jerusalem
Jesus went up deliberately to Jerusalem Isa 50:7, Lk 9:53 to face death Lk 12:50 and to destroy it Heb 2:14, 1Cor 15:26, reminding us of the title of Dr John Owen’s famous treatise – “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ”.
Death is the wages of sin Rom 6:23 and Jesus’ death substituted for His people and atoned for their sins and their consequences, the greatest consequence being their separation from the fellowship of God.
Sin is a separating force – separating between man and man, between man and God, between body and soul. “Your sins have separated between you and your God” Isaiah 59:2.
Thus Jesus cried on the Cross of Calvary “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Mat 27:46 because He was making atonement for His people’s sins. He stood in their place and suffered the punishment that was due to their sins – His death was a substitutionary atonement for His people. It required nothing less than the divine worth of the Son of God, upheld in His humanity by the Holy Spirit Isa 42:1, to atone for innumerable sins.
“By one offering” Jesus has “perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:14). He has perfectly reconciled us to the Father, perfectly satisfied the law, perfectly vanquished Satan, perfectly extinguished the curse, perfectly abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light – clear from every taint of the region and shadow of death and darkness.”
Christ For Us – Sermons of Hugh Martin.
By His sufferings and death Jesus secured the authority to forgive the sins of the greatest sinner Heb 2:10. Let the devil and his wicked followers complain about the godly, but the justice of God is satisfied with Jesus’ offering of Himself on their behalf – “For by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified” Heb 10:14.
So successful is His work that He was invited to sit down at the right hand of the throne of God Ps 110:1.
“When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” Heb 1:3.
Thus the apostle Paul in one of his sermons showed by scriptural exegesis that the Messiah must die and rise again Act 13:33-37. He explained that the Old Testament taught and promised Act 13:32 that the Messiah would be raised from the dead Act 13:33-37, from which he expounded the forgiveness of sins Act 13:38-39.
More than incarnation – death and resurrection
Jesus’ incarnation by becoming human and His identification with human nature is not enough to save sinners, as some falsely teach. Rather, Jesus taught:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”
John 12:24
Jesus’ resurrection destroyed death and He secured the authority to forgive sins. By His death He was perfected as a Saviour Heb 2:10 and by His resurrection He “obtained eternal redemption” for His people Heb 9:12, 1Cor 15:45.
“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Cor 15:54-57.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
