THE DEATH OF THE LORD JESUS
Matthew 27:50-54; 28:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
It was a stupendous moment when the Lord Jesus went into death. Nothing like it had ever happened before in all the history of humanity. Every other man from Abel onwards had died as a consequence of sin having come into the human race. We are told that “by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men”, Rom.5:12. Death is not in itself punishment, because if that were so, believers would never die, since their guilt has been taken away, but death is the governmental consequence of sin. What happened at this moment about which we have read was that, for the first time, a sinless Man entered the territory of death without being summoned there. It was true, of course, that the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, but that was vicarious, and I would understand that, at the end of these three hours of the forsaking, the whole matter was finished. John tells us, “he said, It is finished”, John 19:30. Luke tells us that the Lord said “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) and both Mark and Matthew tell us that He uttered a loud cry (Matt.27:50; Mark 15:37). The matter of sin and sins had been dealt with to God’s entire satisfaction, and the peerless, intrinsic perfection of the humanity of Jesus remained.
So for the first time, a sinless man went into death. What a tremendous moment it was! I think we could say that death was taken aback. I think we can rightly speak of death as in a sense personified, because Paul does that. He addresses death as such; he writes “Where, O death, is thy sting?”. Then the psalmist too wrote “What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?”, Ps.114:5. I think we could say that death was astonished, because nothing like this had ever happened before. The Lord Jesus went into death of His own volition, you might say as an Invader. This was a great military action, the greatest invasion there has even been, when a sinless Man invaded the dark realm of death. No wonder the rocks were rent, and that there was a great earthquake. This was cataclysmic! The veil of the temple was rent, rocks were rent, tombs were opened – what a moment! Death had been challenged for the first time, and had been met. I think the fact that the tombs were opened was a demonstration of the fact that death had now been challenged, and although the Lord Jesus was lying in death, He was going to rise.
There was an earthquake when He died; it was no wonder that the centurion said “Truly this man was Son of God”. Then the Lord Jesus lay in death for three days. You might wonder, if the work of expiation had been completed, why He had to go into death and lie there. The matter of sin and sins had been completely dealt with, but death still remained, so the Lord Jesus went into it to break its power publicly. With any other man lying in death for three days, corruption would have set in, but God would not allow His Holy One to see corruption (Ps.16:10). Corruption is the result of sin having come in to the human race but here was a Man in whom there was no sin, therefore there could be no corruption. I think these three days were necessary to demonstrate that fact, that there was no corruption in that precious body.
Now these three days having been accomplished, there was another earthquake. It is remarkable; there was an earthquake when He went into death and another earthquake when He came out of death. The world never saw it of course, but those loving souls who came to seek their dead Lord were let into the secret. An angel rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. As has been said before, it was a mark of holy derision6. The scripture says “The Lord shall have them in derision”, Ps.2:4. The angel sat there on that stone, reminding us again of these words of the psalmist “What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?”. The victory had been won, and so the angel said to these dear souls, “He is not here, for he is risen”; he said as it were ‘You will not find your Lord here, He is out of death now, and you will know Him now in a new way’. We learn more of that in John’s gospel, of how Mary was let into the secret immediately when she was told to go to His brethren and tell them that He was about to ascend and that His Father was to be their Father, and His God their God, John 20:17. How wonderful all that is, but here, the point is the greatness of Christ’s victory and His triumph as He is out of death, and there is nothing to be found there in the tomb. Certainly there were angels, and there were clothes lying there, but the blessed Object of their affections was gone. He was out of death, victorious. That victory was great, and, dear brethren, the Lord would share that victory with us.
That brings us to the passage in 1 Corinthians. These corruptible bodies that we have now “must needs put on incorruptibility, and this mortal put on immortality … then shall come to pass the word written: Death has been swallowed up in victory”. Death has no fear for the believer; it has become a servant instead of a master. Instead of terrorising persons, death has become the means that carries us into the presence of the Lord. What a wonderful thing that is! I was thinking of Paul writing of the time of his release being come (2 Tim.4:6); he was just waiting for the time of his release. It was as if he was waiting on death as a vehicle which was going to carry him triumphantly into the presence of his Lord. Death has been swallowed up in victory, so there is no sting in death now; it is nothing more than a servant. “All things are yours”, Paul wrote (1 Cor.3:21), life, and death too; death is yours, it is your servant, it is going to take you into the presence of your Lord.
Well it may be, of course, that the Lord will come for us before then. What a wonderful moment the rapture will be, if we are still here. Many of us are getting on in years and we can feel the decline in our mortal bodies, but there is no fear in death. There is no fear in love, either, because love pervades, and “perfect love casts out fear”, 1 John 4:18. What a comfort to the soul. May our hearts be encouraged by these few thoughts.
Word in a meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
18 November 2014
G.A. Brown