************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 39 ************
Doctrine: The Apostles' Creed, "Christ ... crucified"
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on April 1, 2001
Q & A 39
Luke 23:26-43
"He was Crucified"
Introduction
With the church of all ages you and I say, "I believe ... in Jesus Christ ... who ... was crucified."
Don't forget, we are talking about true faith, saving faith. True faith, saving faith, believes that Jesus was crucified, that the eternal Son of God was murdered on a Roman tree. To be saved, to have eternal life, to be reconciled to God, we need to believe that Jesus died on the cross.
I An Ugly Cross - A Horrible Death
We have heard about the cross so much – in sermons, in church school and catechism lessons, during devotions – that it is easy to forget what a horrible death it is. I would like to read for you a description of crucifixion.
Topic: Cross of Christ
Subtopic:
Index: 891-892
Date:
Title:
The cross consisted of a perpendicular stake with a crossbeam at the top of the stake. The height of the stake was usually little more than the height of a man. A block or a pin was sometimes driven into the stake to serve as a seat for the condemned person, giving partial support to his body. Sometimes also a step for the feet was fixed to the stake.
Victims of crucifixion usually did not die for 2 or 3 days. But this was determined by the presence or absence of the seat and the foot rest, for a person suspended by his hands lost blood pressure quickly, and the pulse rate was increased. Usually the victim had been severely whipped before crucifixion took place. Total collapse because of insufficient blood circulation to the brain and the heart would follow shortly.
If the victim could ease his body by supporting himself with the seat and footrest, the blood could be returned to some degree of circulation in the upper part of his body.
To fix the hands to the cross beam either cords or nails and cords were used; sometimes the feet were nailed also. When it was desired to bring the torture to an end, the victim's legs were broken below the knees with a club. It was then no longer possible for him to ease his weight, and there would follow a loss of blood circulation.
The victim's offense was usually published by a crier who preceded him to the place of execution. Sometimes it was written on a tablet which was carried by the condemned man himself.
Yes, the cross is an ugly way to die; yes, it involved unspeakable pain and suffering; yes, we would not wish this kind of death on our worst enemy. Yet, to be saved, to have eternal life, to be reconciled to God, we need to believe that Jesus died this kind of a death. Because, as I already said, true faith believes that Jesus Christ was crucified.
Crucifixion was such a horrible way to die that Roman law forbade the crucifixion of a Roman citizen. Crucifixion was used by the Romans to execute slaves and foreigners who were found guilty of a crime.
Seen in this light, it was an ugly cross that Jesus had to carry. It was an ugly cross upon which He was hung. It was an ugly cross that ended His life.
Imagine that – the eternal Son of God died an ugly death upon an ugly cross.
II An Ugly Cross - A Cursed Death
A There is more to the cross than its physical suffering and pain. Deuteronomy 21 speaks to this:
(Deut 21:22-23) If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, (23) you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
You need to realize that among the Jews capital punishment was by stoning. Sometimes after death they would hang the dead body on a tree, or they would expose it impaled on a pole. But they would never leave the body there overnight because, says Deuteronomy, that will "desecrate the land."
Why?
Paul answers this question for us in Galatians 3. Quoting from Deuteronomy 21:23 he says, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree" (Gal 3:13b).
B Scripture makes clear that the ultimate authority to bless and to curse belongs to God. So, for example, it was God Who blessed Abraham and passed that blessing on to Jacob but not to Esau. In another instance, when Balaam tried to curse Israel, the blessed nation, he found out that no man can curse those whom God has blessed (Num 22-24).
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." The curse of God rested on Jesus when He hung on the wooden cross on Golgotha Hill. He was unclean. He bore the burden of the curse of God. It wasn't only Pilate who sent Him to the place of execution. It wasn't merely the Jews who cried, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" It was also God. For it is God Who has the ultimate authority to curse and to bless.
C What does it mean to be cursed? To be cursed means to be visited by the judgment of God. It means God wants nothing more to do with a person, a nation, a thing, or a place. To be cursed by God means to be abandoned by God. To be cursed by God, therefore, is something to be feared and shunned.
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." This is the worst part of the cross – to be cursed by God. This is worse, far worse, than the physical suffering and pain.
Once again, we have to conclude that it was an ugly cross that Jesus had to carry. It was an ugly cross upon which He was hung. It was an ugly cross that ended His life.
Imagine that – the eternal Son of God died an ugly death upon an ugly cross.
III A Beautiful Cross - Salvation in the Cross
A The New Testament tells us why Jesus was willing to die an ugly death upon an ugly cross. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us," says Galatians, "for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree" (Gal 3:13). As sinful people living in a sinful world, it is you and I who should be cursed by God. By Christ took our place and took our curse. He became a curse for us. The Catechism says,
This death convinces me
that he shouldered the curse
which lay on me,
since death by crucifixion was accursed by God.
Christ "shouldered the curse which lay on me." The curse was not forced upon Him, an unwilling victim. The curse was not something given to Him. The curse was something that He took upon Himself.
Topic: Cross of Christ
Subtopic:
Index: 891-892
Date:
Title:
It is told that in the First World War there was a young French soldier who was seriously wounded. His arm was so badly smashed that it had to be amputated. He was a magnificent specimen of young manhood, and the surgeon was grieved that he must go through life maimed. So he waited beside his bedside to tell him the bad news when he recovered consciousness. When the lad's eyes opened, the surgeon said to him: "I am sorry to tell you that you have lost your arm." "Sir," said the lad, "I did not lose it; I gave it -- for France."
In the same way, Jesus was not helplessly caught up in a mesh of circumstances from which He could not break free. He did not lose his life; he gave it. The Cross was not thrust upon him; He willingly accepted it. The curse was not something He deserved; it was something He willingly took upon Himself.
B Christ "shouldered the curse which lay one me." Think about that for a moment. Think about the three crosses that the Gospel of Luke mentions in our Scripture reading. Do you realize what we see? One cross portrays a thief dying IN sin. Another cross depicts a thief dying TO sin. But the center cross speaks of the Redeemer dying FOR sin. "He shouldered the curse which lay on me."
The ugly death upon the ugly cross means salvation, it means deliverance, it means redemption.
Topic: Cross of Christ
Subtopic:
Index: 891-892
Date: 3/1987.14
Title: The Cross that Frees
While taking a prisoner from a correctional center to be arraigned on charges of attempted armed robbery, police constable John Bolton noticed a cross around the neck of the convict. Knowing the man was not religious, he took a closer look. The prisoner attempted to conceal something protruding from the top of the cross. When questioned, he said it was a good luck charm designed to look like a spoon for sniffing cocaine. But Constable Bolton was sure it looked like a handcuff key. By experimentation he found that the protuberance would open most handcuffs. The discovery led to the exposure of an attempt by prisoners in the correctional center to make a number of these cross-keys.
There is a cross that sets men free, free from the bondage of the law, free from the curse of God, and that cross is the cross of Calvary.
C For those who believe, for those with true faith, for those with saving faith, the ugly cross has now become a beautiful cross. We are singing about this in a few minutes:
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff'ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
Chorus
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
D The Apostle Paul realizes that the ugly cross is a beautiful cross for those who believe. That is why Paul says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal 6:14).
Paul could boast of many things. In fact, before his conversion he did boast of many things:
(Phil 3:5-6) circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; (6) as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
And, in the first chapter of Galatians Paul can write,
(Gal 1:14) I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
After his conversion, Paul had many other things he could have boasted about. After all, he was the foremost missionary of the early church. He had started more churches than the rest of the apostles put together. He had gained more converts for the Christian faith than anyone else. He raised people from the dead, healed the sick, and foretold the future. Yet, Paul boasts in nothing but the cross of Jesus.
Paul boasts in the cross because it means salvation. Paul boasts in the cross because it means Jesus has shouldered the curse which lay on me.
People today boast about many things: their income, the money in the bank, their children, their cholesterol, their physical fitness, their ability in sports, their grades, their beauty, the size of their house, their busyness, their position, even their Bible knowledge. What do you boast about? What do you glory in? I hope that – with Paul – your boast is in the cross of Christ.
Conclusion
An ugly cross, yes. A beautiful cross, also yes.