Coming Again to Judge

Twenty-third after Trinity

Collect: O God, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness; Be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout prayers of thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

Harold Camping, founder of the Family Radio network, got interested in Bible numerology which he thought revealed Bible secrets. In 1992 he published a a book speculating that Christ would return on or about September 6, 1994. He kept studying and finally predicted the world would end on May 21, 2011. He re-calculated and said the end would come on September 21. Camping is dead, his radio network wrecked, lives of some followers ruined.

1. Jesus will come.

Jesus came, died, rose, ascended and poured out his Holy Spirit on the church. What’s next? He will come again. He came the first time to inaugurate his kingdom. He will come again to consummate his everlasting kingdom.

Jesus promised his disciples that, though he was leaving, he would return for them: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3). St. Paul calls Christ’s future coming “the blessed hope.” But that hope causes fear and confusion - even for Christians.

One of the most important writings of the Apostles dealing with Christ’s return is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,

about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve

as others do who have no hope. For since we believe

      that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through

      Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen

      asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from

the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until

the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who

have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend

from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice

of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet

of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we

who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together

with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,

and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Thessalonian Christians were unsure what had happened to their fellow believers who had died. Would they miss out on the wonderful things that would happen when the Lord returns? Paul wrote to clear this us. Those who have died are with Jesus, and, when he comes, he will bring them them with him. He will come with lots of noise announcing his arrival - a cry of command, the voice of an archangel, the sounding of a trumpet. Those he brings with him will be raised from their graves, and their bodies and souls reunited. Then those who are alive will be transformed to share in resurrection glory. In the ancient times when a ruler approached a city, leading citizens would go out to meet him on the road and escort him into the city. So believers, those dead who are raised and those alive whose bodies will be transformed into resurrection glory, together will form the entourage who meet Christ in the air and accompany him to the earth. Then all God’s people will be with together and with Christ forever.

Notice there is nothing about a secret coming of Christ, or secret rapture or snatching up the church. There is nothing about Christians being taken out of the world to heaven for a period of while the earth undergoes a tribulation. There is a single coming of the Lord. His coming will be visible, personal, bodily.

The Bible tells us to do three things in anticipation of Christ’s coming:

• Be prepared. Prepared means we do not live as most people do, as though this world is all there is will go on till the universe winds down and goes cold. We live knowing Christ is coming and ready to welcome him. As J.I. Packer put it, Christians should live as those “all packed up and ready to go.”

• Don’t panic, but look forward to his coming with joy as the day we will gain the fullness of salvation. If we have what the Prayer Book calls a “lively faith” in Christ and his saving work, there is no need for us to fear. Rather we look forward happily to his coming.

• Be busy doing the work of the Lord. Our Lord told a story of a man who gave to his servants an amount of money and said, “Occupy (or do business) till I come.” A long time later the man returned and called in his servants to see how they had handled his money. One had made a 100% profit; one had made a 50% profit; and one didn’t even put his money in the bank to earn interest but wrapped it in a handkerchief and buried it in the ground. The man who had given out the money was pleased with the first two servants but greatly displeased with the last. The Lord does not want us to sit but to work at our jobs, care for our families, do good in the world, and invest our lives in strengthening and expanding his church.

2. Jesus will judge.

When Christ comes he will judge the quick and the dead. Now you know that “quick” does not mean “fast.” People used call the moment a mother first felt her baby move the “quickening.” They thought mistakenly it was the moment the baby came alive. Jesus will judge the quick, the living, and the dead - those who are alive at his coming, and those who are dead who will be raised to face judgment.

Future judgment is certain. The writer of Hebrews wrote “for it is appointed unto man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). The one who will judge is Jesus Christ himself. Jesus said: “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22). He will “judge the living and the dead” (Jn. 5:22).

The Apostle Paul preached in Athens:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because

he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and

of this he has given assurance to all by raising him

from the dead” (Acts 17:30,31).

For Christians, Judgment Day will mean two things:

• We will give an account of our lives. What use have we made of them? Have we lived as those who are bought with the price of Christ’s precious blood? Have we “done God’s business”?

• We will be vindicated before the the world. Christ will acknowledge us as those he loves, for whom he died, who are his fellow heirs. We need not fear the final outcome of our judgment for God has already made known to us. If our faith is in Christ, we are justified - irrevocably declared right and accepted before God forever.

For unbelievers the Judgement Day is a day to dread for it will mean their doom. Christ is a a good and fair Judge. But he will mete out to the unrepentant what they deserve for their rebellion and wickedness. Hell is real. It is the destiny of those who do not take advantage of the day of mercy and receive the salvation Christ freely gives.

I hate to think about the judgment of the unrepentant. I hope you do, too. But there is great injustice, wickedness, rebellion against God, and persecution of God’s people in this world. Think if there were no judgment. It would mean there would be no reckoning and injustice would prevail forever. God would not be vindicated if there is not just final judgment.

The good news for all is that it is not too late to repent and believe the Gospel. All can be saved from eternal condemnation and experience eternal joy.

The Anglican priest, John Newton, wrote these words:

Day of judgment, day of wonders!

Hark! the trumpet's awful sound,

Louder than a thousand thunders,

Shakes the vast creation round!

How the summons

Will the sinner's heart confound!

See the Judge our nature wearing,

Clothed in majesty divine!

You who long for his appearing

Then shall say, "This God is mine!"

Gracious Savior,

Own me on that day for thine!

At his call the dead awaken,

Rise to life from earth and sea;

All the powers of nature shaken

By his look, prepare to flee:

Careless sinner,

What will then become of thee?

But to those who have confessed,

Loved, and served the Lord below;

He will say, "Come near ye blessed,

See the kingdom I bestow:

You for ever

Shall my love and glory know."

Risen, Ascended, Seated

Risen, Ascended, Seated

Collect:Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

                                         

No one has ever experienced greater humiliation than our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal Son and the Father’s equal, but voluntarily he became man. He was condemned to death by the Jewish leaders and suffered under the civil authority, Pontius Pilate. He was nailed to a cross, and died a horrendous death under the judgment of God.  

But, as no one has been so humiliated, so no one has been so exalted. He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God.

1. Risen

The Creed and the Gospels say unequivocally that Jesus died. The Creed and Gospels say with equal conviction that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.

1.1. All four Gospels tell the same story. St. Mark can represent all. Some women came to the tomb early Sunday morning and encountered an angel who said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.” (16:6).

St. Paul lists a number of witnesses:

“... (Christ) was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and (that) he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

The Scriptures testify to a unique historical event. A few others were restored to life temporarily but died again. But Jesus died, was placed in a tomb, and then rose to immortal life - beyond the touch of death.

1.2. The truth of the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. The new World Trade Center in New York is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and the 6th tallest in the world. It rests on 400 metric tons of concrete which was poured onto the bedrock below. There are 40,000 metric tons of the structural steel resting on that foundation. Were the foundation to collapse the whole 1776 feet building would fall.

St. Paul says the Christian faith rests on the historical fact of the resurrection. If the resurrection did not occur, the whole Christian faith collapses. He wrote to the Corinthians, some of whom denied a literal resurrection from the dead:

...if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise...And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15: 12-19).

Simon Greenleaf was a lawyer, the founder of Harvard Law School. He determined to disprove the resurrection by approaching it as a lawyer preparing a case for court. But the more he studied the more uncomfortable he became. At last he concluded that his working hypothesis - that the resurrection did did not happen - was not supported by the evidence. His final conclusion was the resurrection of Christ was true beyond any reasonable doubt.*

Yes, many people do not believe Christ rose from the dead. But it is not because the evidence drives them not to believe. The evidence for the resurrection is strong, strong enough to support the faith of any Christian.

2. Ascended and Seated

As the Creed and Scriptures affirm the bodily resurrection of our Lord, so they affirm his ascension and his sitting at God’s right hand.

2.1. Ascension. St. Luke the recorded our Lord’s ascension. He describes it briefly in his Gospel:

And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,  and were continually in the temple blessing God (Luke 24:50-53).

In Acts he adds:

And when (Jesus) had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9)

How should we understand the ascension? Was our Lord as an astronaut who passed  through the atmosphere into outer space and eventually beyond space into heaven? No. Heaven is God - God living in self-existent glory. When Jesus ascended, he returned to the glory he has always shared with Father. There is no better way to picture Jesus’s leaving this earthly realm to return to the Father than his going up and beyond this realm of existence. C.S. Lewis described the ascension this way: “They saw first a short vertical movement, then a vague luminosity...and then nothing.” ** The point of the ascension is that our Lord left the earth and returned to the presence and glory of the Father.

2.2. Seating. The New Testament writers testify frequently to our Lord’s ascending and then sitting down. What is the significance of his sitting?

My Dad used to tell me, “Bill you can’t work sitting.” You don’t sit till your work is done. The writer of Hebrews said, “After making purification for sins, (Christ) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3). Christ had completed the work of purifying us from our sins by his death and resurrection. Then he ascended and sat down by the Father.

He “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” If your mother ever taught you about seating guests at the table, she probably told you to seat the guest of honor at the right hand of the host. The right hand is the place of honor. Christ was elevated to the place of highest favor at the Father’s right hand.

The seat at the Father’s right hand is not only the place of honor but also of power and authority. God the Father “raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20,21).

Christ having completed his work, sat down at the right hand of God in the place of honor and given the highest power and authority.

What is the significance Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and sitting down? Why are they important?

• In the resurrection God vindicated Jesus’s claim to be the Son of God. The resurrection declared that his payment for our sins was accepted so that we are forgiven and reconciled to God. Jesus’s resurrection is the guarantee that we too will be raised and made like him in his resurrection glory.

• The ascension tells us that our humanity, free of sin’s curse and raised to glory, can exist in the blessed presence of God. The ascension tells us that Christ has presented his sacrifice to the Father, that it was accepted by the Father, and that in heaven Christ constantly intercedes for us. The ascension calls us to lift up our hearts to heaven and seek communion with Christ who is there with the Father.

• The sitting of Christ at the Father’s right hand means that Christ is King. He is not waiting to be made King at his Second Coming, but he is King now. He rules over everything and will continue to rule till all his enemies, including death, are defeated. The sitting at the right hand of the Father assures us we are under the protection of Jesus who has all authority and power. His sitting as King guarantees that in the end the church must triumph over all the forces of evil.

Rejoice, the Lord is King:

Your Lord and King adore!

Rejoice, give thanks and sing,

And triumph evermore.

Jesus, the Savior, reigns,

The God of truth and love;

When He has purged our stains,

He took his seat above;

His kingdom cannot fail,

He rules o'er earth and heav'n;

The keys of death and hell

Are to our Jesus giv'n:

Lift up your heart,

Lift up your voice!

Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

* Michael Horton in We Believe p. 115.

** J.I. Packer in I Want to Be a Christian, p. 71.

 

Dead, Buried, Descended

                 

Twenty-first after Trinity

Collect: Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ who was...dead and buried. He descended into hell.

One of my favorite movies is “What about Bob?” It’s a story about a psychiatrist, his wife and two children, and a neurotic patient named Bob. There is a scene in which the psychiatrist’s little boy, Sigmund, is talking to the patient, Bob. Sigmund, who is 8 or 9 years old, asks, “Bob? are you afraid of death?” “Yeah,” says Bob. The little boy replies, “Me, too. There’s no way out of it.  You’re going to die.  I’m going to die.  It’s going to happen.  And what difference does it make if it’s tomorrow or 80 years? Do you know how fast time goes?  I was 6 like yesterday.” He goes on, “I’m going to die.  You’re going to die.  What else is there to be afraid of?”

1. Christ’s Death and Burial

We might wonder why the creed included that Christ died and was buried. It is because, according to St. Paul, these two facts are part of the Gospel. Paul reminds the Corinthian church of the Gospel he preached to them and by which they are being saved: “For I delivered unto you as of first importance that which I received: that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried.” Why are the death and burial of Jesus essential to the Gospel?

1.1 Dead. The Gospel writers are careful to record the death of Jesus. According to St. Mark, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last” (15:37). He said two things with that loud cry. First, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He meant not, “I am finished,” but “The work of salvation the Father gave me to do, is finished.” Then he said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Having arrived at the moment of death, Jesus entrusted his human spirit to the God who gave it. These words of Jesus were remembered by the early church, so that Stephen, the first martyr, when he was dying, entrusted himself to Jesus, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).

As sunset on Friday neared and the Passover Sabbath was soon to begin, the Jewish leaders became concerned that the bodies would remain on their crosses on the Sabbath. So they went to Pilate and asked that the legs of the crucified men be broken. This would make it impossible for the men to lift their bodies to breathe and so would hasten their deaths. Pilate agreed and ordered the soldiers to break the legs of the crucified men. They broke the legs of the men crucified with Jesus, but when they came to Jesus they found that “he was already dead,” so “they did not break his legs.” But one of the soldiers, wanting to be sure, “pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out water and blood.” Jesus was dead. His respiration had ceased. His heart had stopped beating. His brain waves had gone flat. Jesus was dead beyond all doubt.

Buried. All four Gospels also record the burial of Jesus. A rich man named Joseph from the town of Arimathea got up the courage to go to Pilate and ask that he be given custody of Jesus’ body. The Gospels tell us Joseph was “a good and righteous man” who was “looking for the kingdom of God.” He was a “respected member of the council” (the Sanhedrin) who “had not consented to their decision and action.” He was a disciple of Jesus but in secret because he feared the Jews. Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he asked, and a centurion affirmed that Jesus was dead. So Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

Joseph took custody of the body. He was accompanied by another secret disciple, Nicodemus, who earlier had gone to Jesus by night. St. John tells us, “So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid” (John 19:40-41). When the burial was complete, Joseph rolled a stone in front of the tomb. There was no sign of life in the body of Jesus. He was dead and buried.

1.3. Why did Paul say the death and burial of Jesus were part of the Gospel delivered to him by Christ and which he preached? Why are the Gospel writers so careful to record both the facts and evidence for Jesus’ death and burial? Because the death of Christ is necessary for our salvation.

God had warned Adam and Eve, who not only were the first humans, but also represented the whole human race, that, if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). The prophet Ezekiel warned, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). St. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death is universal because sin is universal. The fact that Jesus died and was buried means he has paid in full the penalty of our sins. There is nothing left for him or for us to do. Our sins are forgiven for Jesus died for them.

That Jesus died and was buried means that Jesus has been through what most fear most. He has fully experienced death, death worse than ours, for he died experiencing the penalty of sin that he might remove death’s sting for us. His body was buried where he awaited his own resurrection as we await ours when our bodies are laid in their graves.

2. Christ’s Descent into Hell

“He descended into hell” is by far the most difficult statement in the Creed. When I learned the Creed as a child, we did not say “he descended into hell.” Later a new minister got it added and so I learned to say the sentence. The reasons that some churches do not include “he descended into hell” are because the sentence was not a part of the earliest form of the Creed, and more important, because there has been uncertainty as to what it means.

One thing we know for sure is that is does not mean that Christ after death went to the place of punishment reserved for the unrepentant. He did not go to hell to suffer the rejection and wrath of God. The sufferings of Jesus were complete when he died. There was nothing more to be done for our salvation.

One important thing to know is that the Greek word in the Creed is “hades.” There is another Greek word “gehenna” which  means what we mean when we say “hell” - eternal punishment. The word “hades” means the same as the Old Testament word “sheol” which means “the place (or realm) of the dead.” If you go to one of our sister congregations in the Anglican Church in North America, you may find that they say, “he descended to the dead.” This is not a matter of not wanting to say what the Creed actually says but of saying what the Creed means by hell or hades.

That leaves us with the question, “What does it mean that he descended to hell or hades or the realm of the dead?” The 39 Articles don’t help, saying, “As Christ died for us, and was buried; so also it is, to be believed that he went down into Hell.”  What does it mean?” Actually there have been a variety of answers. There are two main ones given by evangelical Anglicans. I will tell you about two them.

Dr. J.I. Packer, now in his 90s, a man God has used greatly winsomely to defend and teach Protestant Anglicanism says: “First by his presence he made Hades into Paradise...for the penitent thief and presumably all those who died trusting him during his earthly ministry, just as he does now for the faithful departed. Second he perfected the spirits of the Old Testament    

believers bringing them out of the gloom (of) Sheol into this same Paradise...This is the core truth of the Medieval fantasies of ‘the harrowing of hell.’ Thirdly, he ‘made proclamation’...of his kingdom and appointment as the world’s judge...to the imprisoned spirits who had rebelled in antediluvian times (presumably the fallen angels…).”

The other Anglican is Dr. Alistair McGrath of Oxford who says, “(He descended to the dead) is a statement of belief that Jesus really did die….Jesus shared the fate of all those who have died...Being God incarnate did not mean he was spared from tasting death. He did not merely seem to die; he really did die and joined those who had died before him.”

These two understandings show the difficulty of the statement, but do not question that it should be included in the Creed. They are nothing to fight about.

The important thing for us is this. The fate of Jesus is the fate of all who die believing in him. He died and was buried. He met the repentant thief in Paradise, a place of blessedness and happiness. On the third day he rose. The little boy was right. We are going to die. Our bodies will rest in peace. Our spirits will be with Jesus. And on the great Day to come we will rise to glory.