THE APOSTLES' CREED (Part 5)

Alan Pihringer

Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Introduction

-As we continue our study of the Apostles’ Creed, I want to start with what might be a crude but hopefully effective scenario:

Let’s say that you were driving home one night going 105 mph. A police officer pulls you over, arrests you, impounds your car, and brings you to the courthouse to face the judge. Your dad just happens to be judge in that county, so you think you might be OK. However, you also know that your dad always punishes the guilty and never punishes the innocent. He is a good and just judge. You are brought before the judge and the case is laid before him. Since he is good and just, he finds you guilty and sentences you to either a $500 fine or a week in jail. Since you don’t have $500, the bailiff starts to hall you of to jail. But then your dad the judge stands up, takes off his robe, goes to the clerk and writes a check for the $500. The judge who sentenced you also took your punishment.

-That is a very rough illustration of what God did for us. The judge also took care of the punishment. And this is the great act of Christ who died for us, was buried, but rose again so that our punishment was taken care of. This is stated for us in the Apostles’ Creed, where it highlights the important aspects of Christ’s person and Christ’s actions. This is what the Creed says of Christ (starting from the beginning of the Creed):

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead;

-The creed says that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate to give the historical context for what happened. These are historical events that happened at a specific time in history. What happened? He was crucified, died, was buried, and was risen the third day. All of this to be our substitute and take our punishment. One central passage of Scripture that ties all of this together is actually a prophecy given in Isaiah, and I want to use it to highlight those important portions of the creed. It reads:

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 ESV

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

-The passage describes the Suffering Servant and prophesies the death and resurrection and its significance of this Servant (who we know to be Jesus) about 800 years before it happened. It begins with the triumphant fact that in the end the Servant would be lifted high and exalted, but the rest of the passage talks about the long road that it would take to get there.

-Verse 52:14 describes the unspeakable cruelty that would happen in His suffering for humanity. Now, it’s interesting, that God would elsewhere prophecy about His punishment on Israel and Judah for their sin with such utter devastation that the nations around them would be astonished at the destruction—such that even wicked pagans would shudder and be repulsed. And that same type of description is here—the Servant would be so brutally and maliciously tormented and mutilated and mashed that he wouldn’t even look human. And yet, in v. 52:15, that brutal treatment of the Servant would be for the sprinkling (that is, the spiritual cleansing) for the nations. That the Servant would allow Himself to be treated in such a way would cause people to be dumbstruck because the whole concept of substitutionary atonement goes against every natural human tendency. Only God could think up such a plan.

-And that is why, according to 53:1 that people will not believe the message about this Servant. Even though God’s power would be evident in everything that the Servant did, the message would still be rejected by most people who were confronted by Him. In fact, in John 12:37-38, this verse is quoted as being fulfilled in the days of Jesus when they did not believe Him despite all the signs and wonders that He did in their presence. And not much has changed today.

-The problem for the Jews in the first century is described in 53:2. Jesus, the Servant, was born under humble means and He grew up in front of their eyes very humbly and quietly, and most importantly, he grew up just like a normal Jewish kid. So, if you think of it, here is someone who was born in the presence of animals to a poor family with no political power, growing up in a no-name town, remaining unknown to the outside world until He began His ministry sometime in His 30s, and then for 3 1/2 years or so of ministry He had not place to call His own, no bed on which to lay His head, and had to mostly rely on the kindness of others to sustain Him. In a normal human situation, that would not have caused anyone to pay any attention to Him.

-But because He pushed against the system, and went against commonly held beliefs, and challenged the wrong people during His earthly ministry, according to 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men. This was true of His life as much as it was His death. Jesus would be rejected more than He would be accepted. And when His time of final sorrow came, people hid their faces from Him, turned their back on Him, and that included His own disciples.

-And yet, when His ultimate rejection came (by the world calling for His death), that death was the means of bearing our griefs and sorrows (according to 53:4). In fact, most people of His day thought that He must have been cursed of God because God wouldn’t allow His own to suffer like that. And yet, He did it for us. He was our substitute. Because, according to 53:5 He was pierced for OUR transgressions, not His own, because He didn’t have any of His own. He was crushed for OUR iniquities. His suffering had nothing to do with Him or what He deserved, it had to do with us and what we deserved. If justice were to be served so we could be at peace with God, it had to come upon Him. And so, the wounds that He suffered, and the death that He died, we are healed spiritually—we are made whole. {And a quick side note, unlike what the health and wealth people try to pass off, that verse has nothing to do with physical health.} And so, because of Jesus’ death, we have peace and healing, if people would believe and trust. And this is something everyone has to do, because according to 53:6 everyone has gone astray from God and turned to going their own way and doing their own thing. And yet, God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. This Servant was the perfect sacrifice to which all other sacrifices pointed. And this sacrifice was final, never needing to be repeated again.

-The suffering of the Servant included many injustices. According to 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, and 53:8 says that by oppression and judgment He was taken away. This probably refers to the miscarriage of justice that happened to Him in the kangaroo courts that were supposed to be trials in front of the Jews and then in front of the Romans. It was a prejudiced trial that led to the greatest miscarriage of justice in history. And then, according to v. 8, after it all happened, He was neglected. No one from His generation considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of the people, including those who had a hand in His death. And according to 53:9, even though He died like a common criminal, yet He was buried in the tomb of a rich man. As much as they mistreated Him, He was completely innocent in all His ways. Even when He was wronged, according to 53:7, He didn’t open His mouth in protest. Even when treated as a criminal, it is testified in 53:9 that He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth.

-Even though it was men who put Him to death, yet it was actually God who orchestrated it all. According to 53:10 it was the will of the Lord to crush Him and put Him to grief, because His life would be a guilt offering. But there would be victory and success in what He did, because His sacrifice would bring children to God. And not only that, He would be raised from the dead and His days would be prolonged for eternity. And through Him the will of the Lord would prosper in His hand. He accomplished God’s purpose of making an offering for sin and (according to 53:11) justifying many—making them righteous in the eyes of God, because (according to 53:12) He bore the sin of the many and ever lives to intercede on the behalf of transgressors.

-And so, the Servant Himself would receive rewards. According to 53:10 He would receive a people unto Himself; according to 53:11 He would see the results of His labor and be satisfied; and according to 53:12 He was given great honor as God said He would divide Him a portion wit the many, and divide the spoil with the strong—He would be known as the mightiest of men. All of this contained in the wonderful proclamation that we believe that he suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; and He rose the third day.

-And then there is that little quip about descending to hell that there is much debate over. There are a lot of different theories about what this refers to, but I will quickly give you my thoughts. In the Old Testament there was the word Sheol that referred to the grave or to what we might call the abode of the dead—a generalized term about where the dead go after death with no commitment one way or another whether it is good or bad. It’s just that people die but they still have an existence of some sort.

-The KJV translated that term as “hell” but I believe that it was wrong to do so, because even people like David and such were said to go to Sheol, and I don’t think anyone would say David went to hell (as we conceive it). But the Apostles’ Creed seemed to pick up that terminology. What I believe the Creed is merely saying that Jesus actually did die, and His soul went to the abode of the dead in general. Jesus’ death was not fake, it was real. And then He really was truly resurrected.

-This statement of belief has everything to do with our salvation, and if anyone tries to tell you that there is salvation in any other way, they are lying and are false teachers. If you have believed, praise God. If you have not believed, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today...

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