Apostles Creed #5
The Apostles Creed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
What I Am Not Saying
What I Am Not Saying
I am not saying that Jesus suffered in the flames of Hell.
I'll explain why shortly.
I am not saying that Jesus gave the wicked a second chance at salvation.
I am not saying that Jesus universally saved everyone from Hell.
The Four Primary Views
The Four Primary Views
The Limbus Patrum view, which means the fathers limbo, is the belief that when the OT Saints, meaning those who lived and died before the finished work of Jesus, when they died, their souls went to a place called paradise and waited for Christ to come and declare Himself to them that they may believe in His name and follow Him into His heavenly kingdom.
The Victorious Conqueror View (Name Given by Me). Is the view that Jesus, having conquered sin on Calvary, descended to Hell to declare to His enemies that He is the unstoppable conqueror and king of all things in Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth.
Michael Heiser in his book, “Unseen Realm” argues that “this place of the dead, really, is the kingdom of the serpent in the Old Testament. In his descent, Jesus kicked down the gates of the kingdom of the serpent and showed he’s King there, too.” https://ps.edu/he-descended-into-hell-or-did-he-jesuss-descent-and-why-it-matters-for-christian-theology/
The Hellish Calvary View (Name Given by Me) is the view that Jesus suffered all the Hell belonging to us on Calvary and that He did not descend to actual Hell, but simply suffered it for us while on the cross and in descending, He descended by coming to Earth, suffering, and being buried.
The Deliverance View (Name Given by Me) is the view that Jesus, as He stood in our place on Calvary, descended to Hell as that is where we belonged. But He, standing in our place, went where we deserved but didn’t suffer. Rather He overcame it and in rising from the dead, we who believe in Him likewise are delivered from that Hell that belonged to us.
An Understanding of Hell in the Ancient Mind
An Understanding of Hell in the Ancient Mind
Earlier I said that I would explain why Jesus did not go and suffer in the actual flames of Hell. Now, you might be thinking, “How could He have descended to Hell, without actually suffering in Hell?” And that’s a good question!
First, the word “Hell” doesn’t always necessarily mean the firey, horrible place that we call Hell. In the early Church two latin words were used interchangeably and they simply meant, “He descended to the place of the dead.”
The reality is that in the ancient Jewish and early Christian mind, it was thought that when someone died, their souls went on to be in an intermediate state. Meaning that their souls didn’t hang out with their bodies but that they went to paradise or hell. They believed that there was two sides to Hell, a righteous paradise and a wicked place of torment.
About this, Matthew Emerson said, “The New Testament uses a few different terms to refer to the place of the dead—what we would call “the intermediate state.” Sometimes it’s a general term, where it’s referring to the place everyone’s soul goes when they die, without differentiating between righteous and unrighteous. “The abyss” in Romans 10:7 is one example. But in other places, the New Testament uses specific terms. “Paradise,” for instance, is an example of the place of the righteous dead. Another related term is “Abraham’s bosom” in Luke 16. Then you have terms like “Gehenna,” “Hades” that refer to the place of the unrighteous dead. The basic idea in both the Old and New Testaments is that there’s one place of the dead, and it’s divided into the righteous compartment, so to speak (e.g. paradise, Abraham’s bosom, etc.) and the unrighteous compartment (e.g. Gehenna, Hades, Sheol, etc.).”
(Explain story of rich man and Lazarus)
My Argument
My Argument
Most people today seem to want what I called “The Hellish Calvary” view to be true. And while none of us would deny that Jesus certainly suffered horribly on the cross, I would not say that that is what the creed or the Bible is saying. One reason I believe that view can be dangerous is that it gives sway to the ancient heresy known as Apollinarianism.
Emerson explains it like this, “Apollinarianism suggests that when God the Son incarnated, he only took on a human body, but not a human soul. In other words, on earth, Jesus was only—in terms of his human nature—a material being, according to Apollinarian thought. He was only in his physical body and the processes by which that body functioned.”
Well, Jesus certainly possessed both a human body and soul and since that is the case, His soul descended following His death on the cross.
Now, what I want to argue for here is that in the descent, Jesus, who conquered sin on Calvary, descended to Hell to do three things:
To Declare Himself as the Victorious King of All
To Declare Himself as the Victorious King of All
In 1 Peter 3:18-22 says
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
I believe that 1 Peter is explaining what Jesus did while His body was in the tomb for three days and that it explains that Jesus descended to declare to His enemies in Hell that He is king of everything. Like Michael Heiser said earlier, “Jesus kicked in the gates of Hell and declared that He’s king there too.”
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He endured and conquered what we deserved
He endured and conquered what we deserved
Because Jesus robed Himself in humanity, He allowed Himself to be subject to our nature and He, bearing our sin, allowed our depravity to drag Him down to Hell. But as the Son of God, He brings life where on death otherwise would remain and in glory, He who stood in our place, conquers Hell and the grave and since we are in Him, so did we.
He Bankrupted Paradise
He Bankrupted Paradise
Well, if there was a place called paradise. It’s not where it once was. In Jesus’s resurrection and ascension He led paradise into Heaven where all Saints dwell and await the reunion on their bodies and souls.
What Does This Mean?
What Does This Mean?
It means that Jesus can sympathize with us as He not only experienced death, but He experienced what it was like to be dead.
Because of this, He will ensure that one day, these bodies will be resurrected from the grave and that they will be perfect and whole.
It means that Jesus is King of All
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.