What Christians Believe: "I Believe in the Death of Jesus"
(Selected verses from John 19 and Hebrews 2:14-15)
Main Idea: My destiny is determined through my belief in the death of Jesus.
As we talk about the Apostles Creed each Sunday we come today to the central purpose for Jesus Christ leaving eternity, being born through his mother Mary and being both fully human and fully God. That purpose was to die for me on the cross. Christians believe that their destiny as persons is determined through their belief in the death of Jesus Christ.
On February 25 the controversial Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of the Christ" will be released nationwide and here in Jonesboro. In your worship guide is an announcement for a special viewing of "The Passion of the Christ" for First Baptist Church and their guests on Saturday, February 28. The movie, directed and funded by Mel Gibson, depicts in powerful and visual ways the events surrounding the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus as portrayed in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Beginning with Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the film allows us to encounter Jesus as he experiences suffering at the hands of the Romans, his trials, his crucifixion, his death and the reminder of his resurrection. Alex Field writes, "…the film is a passionate, beautiful and excruciating tribute to Jesus. One thing is absolutely certain: Whoever sees this film will walk away from the theatre impacted by this story." (Relevant Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2004, p. 47) Paul Harvey is quoted as saying after viewing the movie, "Frankly, I will never be the same."
You may wonder why we need another movie on the life or death of Jesus added to the nearly 100 that already exist. I do not know that we need another movie about Jesus. What I do know, though, from what I have read about the movie, is that it is unlike any movie before it. "The Passion of the Christ" presents the reality of the crucifixion without restraint. For that reason it has received an "R" rating. Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ, has said that the movie does not glorify violence and the "R" should remind us of "reality" rather than "restricted." That is why I believe in the providence of God that this portrayal of the death of Jesus is essential for our culture because we have lost touch with the reality of the death of Jesus on the cross. The events surrounding the death of Jesus have become so common that we become dull to the reality of his suffering and death. Sometimes it takes reality to shake us from the numbness of our complacency and confront us with the fact that our sins were the reason for his death.
The reality of the events Mel Gibson portrays is summarized in the statement of the Apostle’s Creed. Christians believe that Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried" and that he "descended into hell." It is not just that we believe in the reality of those events; we believe that those events determine our destiny—the destiny of my pain, sin, guilt, hopelessness and fear. What happens to a person or thing is defined as their destiny. Christians believe that what happens to them ultimately is determined by their belief in the death of Jesus.
I. What do Christians believe about the death of Jesus? Christians believe that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. (John 19:1-3). Saying those words describes two things for us. One is that the death of Jesus can be defined by history. All four of the books that describe the life of Jesus, which we call the Gospels, say that the death of Jesus occurred when a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate ruled the area of Judea, beginning in 26 AD until approximately 36 AD. Under Pilate’s administration he sought every way imaginable to offend the Jews. It seems that his compliance to the Jewish leaders’ request to crucify Jesus was out of a fear of jeopardizing his security with the Roman emperor. However, it would be Pilate who ordered the sign that described Jesus as "The king of the Jews" placed on Jesus’ cross. It was a way of a final insult to the Jews by saying, "What a sorry race this is, with such a pitiful figure for their king!" (Holman Bible Dictionary)
Another thing these words describe for us is the suffering Jesus endured at Pilate’s order. John says simply that Pilate" had him flogged." From what we know of Roman justice, flogging was designed to so weaken a criminal that death was a relief. The whip that was used was tipped with broken glass and metal designed to lacerate the flesh of the person. We can only imagine the pain that this brought to the body of Jesus. Added to his flogging was the humiliation of the soldiers’ placing a crown woven from thorns upon his head. Our words cannot define the scope of his suffering.
What purpose did his suffering accomplish? The Bible says, "So even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). Jesus would tell Pilate while he was being questioned that the only authority he had was what God had given to him. (John 19:11) At any moment Jesus had the power to stop the suffering but he did not, because his suffering was fulfilling his purpose. Every lash from the whip brought excruciating pain. Why? So that there could be no pain you could suffer that he does not understand. Through his sufferings he understands my pain, however great it might be. All the pain you and I might ever experience in our lifetime he understands because he "suffered under Pontius Pilate…."
II. Pilate was not only responsible for Jesus’ suffering, but he was responsible for his crucifixion. John 19:16-18 John says, "Pilate handed him over to be crucified." (John 19:16) Christians believe that the method of Jesus’ death was crucifixion. The use of crucifixion for execution criminals by the Romans was borrowed from the Persians. The methods of crucifixion, as well as construction of the crosses themselves, varied. Some persons were crucified upside down. Some were impaled on the cross. Some were bound by ropes rather than nailing the criminal to the cross. The death, while painful, was more the result of exhaustion than the method itself. That is why the biographies of Jesus record his short statements due to the weight of his own body literally suffocating himself.
Roman crucifixion was reserved for the most serious crimes and was done publicly as an open warning to all who would defy its power. Because of our familiarity with the story we have become dull to the humiliation Jesus experienced being crucified. We forget that this was the one who spoke the universe into existence and now was enduring not only a painful death but also a shameful execution. Any who would have seen him that day would have seen him as guilty of some capital offense deserving of his death rather than the Son of God who humbled himself completely.
To the Romans, Jesus was a criminal paying for his accused crime of insurrection against Rome. The Bible tells a different reason. The Bible says, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross."(Col.2:13-14, NLT). Jesus’ crucifixion was the instrument God used as the payment for the sins that I have committed. You and I are the criminals. You and I are the ones who are guilty of sins beyond description. Yet as the nails tore into the flesh of Jesus and the hammer secured that flesh to the cross, so every sin anyone has ever done, could ever do, will ever do, was paid for there. Through His crucifixion He paid the penalty for my sins.
III. Christians believe Jesus suffered, was crucified and died. (John 19:28-30) The Gospels record Jesus’ enduring his crucifixion for almost six hours. At the end of those six hours, when his purpose was accomplished and his body overcome, he cried out, "It is finished," and he breathed his last breath. He was dead. John records that it was necessary to confirm the death of not only Jesus but also the other two who were crucified with Jesus due to the Jewish Sabbath approaching. A soldier took out a spear and stabbed Jesus in the side to ensure that he was dead, causing fluid and blood to flow from his body.
The Gospels tell us and Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross. There has been a theory that Jesus never died; that he merely fainted on the cross, thereby enabling the myth of his coming back from the dead. Yet everything that the Gospels say, point us to the reality that Jesus died. It would have been humanly impossible to withstand the physical torture Jesus endured and merely fainted. The Romans were expert executioners and stabbed him out of sheer cruelty to make certain he was dead. Even the circumstances of his burial make clear he was dead. Christians believe Jesus died.
Why is it so important that we confess that Jesus died? Some say that he died as an example of how we must sometimes give the ultimate sacrifice for what we believe. Yet others have done that and while they are admired, they are not afforded the reverence we have for Jesus. Why did Jesus die? The Bible says, "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (Rom 5:8). Christians believe that Jesus died in their place. He died "for us."
You wonder, though, "What is so wrong with me that I would need Jesus to die for me? What have I done that is so awful? I’ve never killed anyone. What kind of God would ask someone to die for my petty offenses?" If you were to ask someone if they were perfect, they would say, "No." If you ask them if they always do what they believe is right, they will answer, "No." If you ask them if it is right for someone else to do what they do themselves and not be punished, they will say, "No." If you ask them, "Is it right for you to do what you do and there be no penalty for what you do?" an honest person will say, "No." God’s standard is absolute perfection, not minimum offenses. God would not be just if he let us go without punishing our offenses. Yet, rather than you and I bearing our own punishment, Jesus died in our place, for me, for us, while I was still committing my own list of offenses against God. I deserved the punishment but he died in my place.
IV. Jesus suffered, was crucified, died and was buried. (John 19:38-42) John tells of two of Jesus’ followers, who were afraid to be identified with him in his life, securing His body at this death. Their names were Joseph and Nicodemus, both Jewish leaders who believed the truth about Jesus, but feared the cost of following him openly. They now courageously come to Pilate to secure the body of Jesus and lovingly and carefully prepare his body for burial. They secured the use of a newly prepared unused tomb and "laid Jesus there."
Why does the creed add the statement "was buried"? Isn’t it obvious what would happen to a person after they died was that they would be buried? Yes, but the fact not only of Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death was important, so was the fact of his being buried. The Bible says that part of the Good News was that "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day." (I Cor.15:3-4) The reason for the reference to the reality of his being buried is that in his burial there is the security of the hope of resurrection.
I have stood more times than I care to remember at the side of an empty grave waiting to receive the body of the one who was loved but had died. There is nothing that so causes us to face the fact of the reality of death than to stand in that place. It seems that all is hopeless, lost, forgotten and empty. Yet for the Christian that moment holds for us the greatest promise—the promise of our own resurrection to be united with Jesus Christ and those we love. Our death as a Christian is the assurance of our ultimate transformation for eternity. Jesus’ being buried secures my hope that I will one day be transformed.
V. Christians believe Jesus suffered, was crucified, died, was buried but then the creed says, "He descended into Hell." (Heb. 2:14-15) I will admit to you that this is the most obscure part of the creed. However, when you understand it you see its significance. Another version of the creed has the words, "He descended to the dead." The word "hell" is an English translation of a Hebrew word and the Greek word for the place people go when they die. When the creed was first composed that is what the word "hell" referred to rather than the identification as the eternal place of punishment for those who have rebelled against God.
The Bible says that Jesus shared our humanity to the point that he shared our death. He shared our death in order that no longer would we be bound by the fear of death. We do not know the exact location of the spiritual nature of Jesus while his body waited for resurrection. What we know is that he didn’t stay there! Jesus endured all that our death means in every aspect, even that transition that our spiritual nature makes from this life to the next. Therefore, I do not have to fear any aspect of death. The Bible says that to "be away from the body" is to be "at home with the Lord" (II Cor. 5:8). Since Jesus has experienced all that death holds and has overcome it, he removes my fear of all death brings.
So what do Christians believe about the death of Jesus? We believe that:
There has been a huge controversy about The Passion of the Christ depicting the Jews as responsible for Jesus’ death. The fear is that the movie will incite new persecution of those of Jewish descent or faith. Yet one scene in the movie played by Mel Gibson himself dispels all that fear. "Near the end of the movie, Gibson’s fist enters the frame clutching an eight-inch iron spike. His hand is only onscreen for a few moments, holding a nail beneath a flashing hammer as it’s being driven through Jesus’ palm. It’s a humble gesture that acknowledges all sinners as responsible parties in the death of Jesus Christ." (Alex Field, Relevant Magazine, Jan-Feb. 2004, p. 45)
Beginning February 25 you will have the opportunity to see all this visually, but you don’t have to wait to believe it permanently. What Christians believe is that our destiny is determined through our belief in the death of Jesus. Through his death something happens to my pain, my sins, my guilt, my hopelessness and my fear. What happens? They are all taken away.
What do Christians believe about the death of Jesus? What you believe determines your destiny!
Sunday, February 1, 2004
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas