THE SON OF GOD IS DEAD!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
The Son of God is dead. In order to consider the enormity of that reality maybe we should consider something that more of us are familiar with. There is probably no moment in life more sobering and solemn than the funeral of someone we love. There in the casket lies the body. And there in the pews sit the husband or the wife, the children, the parents, the family, the friends and the loved ones.
The finality of the matter begins to sink in. They won't hold hands anymore. They won't kiss one another anymore. They won't walk together anymore. They won't laugh together anymore. There is grieving. The separation is final, until the day when Christ comes back again.
And, now The One we love more than anything in the whole world, the Son of God is dead.
It has been said that while people may be able to avoid every other preacher in the world, there is one preacher who no one can avoid. That preacher is Death. Everyone in the world has to listen to the voice of Death. And, one day each one of us will hear the cold lips of Death speak, saying, "I am coming for you." His pulpit is the grave.
There is a tombstone in Nebraska that says this,
"Remember, friend, as you pass by,
as you are now,
so once was I.
As I am now,
you soon shall be.
Prepare for death and follow me."
Death is a preacher that we cannot avoid. The reason it is such a sobering and solemn preacher is because we, as Christians, understand why we die. The Bible is very clear why we die. God told Adam and Eve, "The day you eat of the fruit you will die." God tells us in the book of Romans, "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin. And so, all die because all have sinned." Death is such a sobering preacher because it shows us that sin is not a trifling matter. Sin is not child’s play in God’s eyes. Sin is so enormous. Sin is so weighty that as a result of sin, one day, my eyes will be darkened. My ears will not hear anymore. My mouth will not speak anymore. My heart will not beat anymore. I will lie in the grave and I will turn to dust. What an enormous thing our sin is. Death is the ultimate result of sin.
Today as we look at the death of the Son of God we see even more deeply just how enormous our sin really is.
When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His Father, in all earnestness, if there was some other way, any other way that human beings could be saved, that His Father would bring that about. But the answer was very clear. There was no other way. There was no other way that our sins could be paid for, that our sins could be taken care of, than for God Himself to die. That is how enormous and weighty our sins are.
It is proper for us to say (even though it is true that God cannot die), it is proper for us to say that because Jesus as God and Man were inseparably united as God and Man that when the Man Jesus died, it is proper for us to say that God died!
After all, whose eyes closed for the last time in death? Weren’t those the eyes of God? Hadn’t God taken that human body to Himself? Wasn’t it God who looked out of those eyes and looked into the hearts of people? Wasn’t it God’s eyes that closed in death and grew dark? Those were God’s eyes! It is proper for us to say, God died.
Whose ears were those? Wasn’t it God who had taken those very ears as His ears? Wasn’t it God who had listened to the cries of people in need, with those ears? Wasn’t it God’s ears that stopped hearing on that day? It is proper for us to say, God died.
Whose lips were those? Weren’t those the lips that God had taken to Himself as His own lips? Weren’t those the lips of God that spoke the very Word of God, the comforting words of forgiveness to so many people during His life? Weren’t those the lips of God that stopped speaking on that day? It is proper for us to say, God died. Whose hands were those that were nailed to the cross? Weren’t those the hands that God had taken as His very own? Weren’t those the hands by which God had taken the little children in His arms, hugging them to His heart? Weren’t those the hands that grew limp and cold on the cross that day? It is proper for us to say, God died.
Whose heart was that? Wasn’t that the heart that God had taken to Himself? Wasn’t that the heart that in great love and compassion beat for the sinners in this world? Wasn’t that the heart of God? And, wasn’t it the heart of God that stopped? It is proper for us to say, God died.
It is proper for us to say that there in that tomb, in that cold tomb honed out of stone, wrapped up in that dead body was God’s Son. God was dead.
Doesn’t that show us the enormity of our sin? God Himself had to die, to take away our sins. Good Friday should be a day of absolute seriousness and sobriety for Christians, as we consider the enormity of our sins.
But, on the other hand, Good Friday should be a day of absolute comfort. For all those who are sorry over their sins, and troubled over the enormity and weight of their sin, there on Good Friday they can see the enormity of God’s love for sinners.
God died for sinners!
If you will, please bring to your mind a picture of an old-fashioned balance scale that is made of two pans. In the middle is a fulcrum. Those two pans balance one another. If the weights in the pans are equal, the pans balance. However, if one pan is heavier, then the heavier pan moves down and the lighter pan goes up.
Consider placing all your sins in one of the pans of that balance scale. Place in that pan your lies, your cheating, your greed, your envy, your jealously, your lust, your hatred, your covetousness, and all your other sins. All those heavy, enormously weighted sins are in one pan.
Now, what can we offer to God to balance out all of those sins? Can we offer Him something good that we have done? Can we offer Him our good works? The Bible says, "No one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the Law."
We are not saved by our good works, so no one can boast. I don’t have anything to put into that pan that can counter balance all the weight of my sin. As a matter of a fact, the Bible says,
"You have been weighed in the scales, and
you
have been found wanting."
But what happened on Good Friday? What did God actually do for us on Good Friday? What happened on Good Friday shows us the enormous love that God has for sinners. On Good Friday, God put His Son in the other pan. The Bible says, "Christ died". Why? Why did Christ die? He died "for all." He died for the righteous and He died for the unrighteous. He died to bring us to God.
Christ died for me!
His death was for me!
Christ was put in that scale for me!
Consider who that is, who is lying in the other pan. God put into that other pan, Himself. God Himself! There is The One who loved His neighbor perfectly, so perfectly that He gave His own life for His neighbor – for me! There is The One who loved His Father with all His heart and with all of His Soul and with all His Mind, and loved His neighbor as Himself. There is God, lying in the scale. There is God, who has taken all my sins, all that I deserve for my sins. There is God’s blood. There is God’s passion. There is God, dead for my sins.
Now, which is weightier, my sin, or God Himself? When God is put into that scale, His side goes down and mine flies up. My side flies up! And our sins have lost their weight! My sins are paid for and they are forgiven! And all the wrong that I have ever done in my life, count as nothing in Christ’s weighty scale! God has declared me holy in His sight, for Christ’s sake. My sins are forgiven and Heaven is mine, because of what Christ has done!
The Bible tells us that when Jesus died, the moment He died, the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The curtain in the temple was a picture that showed sinners could not come into the presence of the Holy God. But when Christ died that temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. Now there is the new picture that shows sinners have access to the very throne of God. We can come before God because of what Jesus has done for us. God lies in the scales and we know that our sins are forgiven.
On Good Friday we consider the enormity of our sins and then we consider the enormity of God’s love for us. But it doesn’t stop there. We remember His body, that laid in that dark, cold tomb with the stone rolled in front of it. That was a borrowed grave. It was a borrowed grave. What do you do with something that you borrow? When you are done using it, you give it back. In two days, on Easter morning, we will celebrate with great joy the fact that Jesus, who had died, and was laid in that grave, will give that grave back! And, we will celebrate with great joy the fact that not only was our sin defeated, but death was defeated as well!
But today, on Good Friday, we consider that God, God’s Son, is dead.
It used to be a custom in the ancient church, at the close of the Good Friday Service, to take a huge book and slam it shut. Slamming the book shut was to help those people picture the stone being rolled in front of the tomb. The tomb was shut. And, then those people were to go home and they were to think and meditate about our savior being in that tomb.
So, today on this Good Friday, that is how we will close our service. As the book is closed remember the stone has been rolled in front of the tomb and there lies our savior. Think about the enormity of your sin.
And, think about the enormity of God’s love!
And, with the sound of a resounding thunderclap, the enormous book slammed shut, and the congregation left in silence.
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