Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Hebrews 9,15.26b-28. Good Friday

✠ We preach Christ and Him crucified ✠

Iesus Nazarenus rex Iudaeorum

Hebrews 9,15.26b-28 2412

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Coelestine, Bishop of Rome, † 432.

Lucas Cranach, † 1553, Albrecht Dürer, † 1528, and Michelangelo, † 1564, Artists

6. April 2012

1. O Almighty, Eternal God, who for us has caused Your Son to suffer the pains of the cross, so that You put away the power of the enemy from us, grant us to observe the memory of His suffering so that we may attain the forgiveness of sin, and the certain release from eternal death, to serve You in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness (Löhe). Furthermore, we beseech You graciously to behold this Your family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed, given up into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross (The Book of Common Prayer) so that by His holy and righteous merit we, by virtue of His penal substitution, His vicarious atonement and the blessed exchange, receive, by faith in the gospel, the promise of everlasting salvation. Amen.

2. Therefore Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. But as it is, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of all, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

3. The old covenant, instituted by Yahweh through Moses on Mt. Sinai, was bloody and deadly. Every morning and evening priests slaughtered hundreds of lambs for countless Jewish families longing for their forgiveness. These lambs were pure, spotless and holy. Their innocent blood paid for men and women’s forgiveness. Day after day, year after year, for two millennia, Yahweh endured this brutal and bloody slaughter of innocents; it was the only way His holy wrath and righteousness could be sated against vile, sinful human beings.

4. This old covenant was only a temporary solution. Dead lambs could not fully and finally satisfy mankind’s sin. This old covenant was meant to prepare Israel for a new and better covenant. This new covenant was foreshadowed even before the first was Divinely instituted, for Yahweh commanded Abraham to sacrifice His one and only son, Isaac, one an altar upon Mt. Zion. Abraham and Isaac were a type for God the Father and Jesus. When John the Baptizer saw Jesus, he declared: »Behold, the Lamb of God who is taking away the sin of the world!« (John 1,29). Three years later this new covenant was established when Jesus was crucified.

5. The new covenant, instituted by Jesus on Mt. Zion, was more bloody and even deadlier than the old covenant: God Himself suffered and died for the sins of the world.

6. The Romans took their crucifixions seriously. It began when Jesus was beaten to a bloody pulp: twenty lashes from a cat-of-nine tails formed deep cuts in an „x“ pattern across His back, and then nineteen more lashes across His chest. We’re not talking about a bullwhip here, for Roman whips were fashioned with broken pottery, bits of metal and even nails to tear into the condemned’s flesh. A crown with 6-inch long thorns cut deep lacerations into Jesus head. Then Jesus was forced to carry an 100 pound cross beam out to Calvary where He would be crucified naked. There was the smell of sweat mingled with fear, along with urine, and other bodily releases. The body was caked with blood. Groans and cries for mercy were uttered by the crucified and the onlookers.

7. The Romans stretched out Jesus arms and nailed each wrist to the cross beam. Then His feet were nailed together on the vertical pole so that His body formed a T. „As the crucified slowly sagged down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shot along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. As he pushed himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he placed his full weight on the nail through his feet. Again, there was searing agony as the nail tore through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of his feet. Hanging by the arms, the pectoral muscles were paralyzed and the small muscles between the ribs were unable to act. Air could be drawn into the lungs, but could not be exhaled. The crucified fought to raise himself in order to get even one short breath. He suffered hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, and searing pain as tissue was torn from his lacerated back from his movement up and down against the rough timbers of the cross. Another agony was a deep crushing pain in the chest as the sac surrounding the heart slowly filled with serum and began to compress the heart. The compressed heart struggled to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood to the tissues, and the tortured lungs were making a frantic effort to inhale small gulps of air“ (Dr. C. Truman Davis). Jesus suffered this way for six grueling hours. The way to end this horror was when the crucified could not or would not push up on his legs to breathe, or if the fluid pooling around the heart caused congestive heart failure – asphyxiation would occur in seconds.

8. Behold, the Son of God crucified, and the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sin of the world, yes, for all your sins! „The cross of Jesus grieves us not only because we are sorry for Him in His suffering but also because of what it says to us. To each sinner the cross shows, „This is what your sin means.“ We cannot dodge that accusation“ (Nagel 116). The cross reveals the deadly seriousness of our sinful nature. Christ crucified is the costly ransom that pays in full all our sinfulness. Behold, there is Jesus, the King of the Jews!

9. There can be no doubt that God loves each and every fallen, sinful man and woman. Three years before He was crucified, Jesus told Nicodemus: »For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.« (John 3,16). God desired to save the world from sin, death and hell so He sent His one and only Son to redeem the world as a vicarious sacrifice. God did not spare Himself, but rather He sent His very best for you and your salvation.

10. The law, with all its unrelenting condemnation upon the sinner, is fulfilled. The law reveals every person to be a wicked sinner and thus renders its guilty verdict that everyone deserves death, damnation and eternal torment apart from God’s Divine fellowship. God’s own law demands punishment, and so God Himself paid the law’s sentence. Behold, the Son of Man, the King of the Jews, hangs lifeless on the cross. Jesus suffered and died for you. Your sins, all of them, are forgiven. Eternal life is now yours. Salvation is given unto you. On the cross, Jesus reconciled you back to God the Father. Jesus has made peace between God and us. Behold, Christ crucified for you.

11. »And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of all, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him« (Hebrews 9,27-28). Jesus is the Lord over Death and the Lord of Life. He proclaims: »I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though that person dies, yet shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die« (John 11,25-26). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, who desires all people to be saved, on this night we remember the great gospel proclamation: »For God has loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not be lost, but have eternal life« (John 3,16). Jesus Christ our Savior is the gift of salvation that You have given Your fallen creation. On the cross we see the law in all its fierceness as it condemns Jesus as the Chief of Sinners and He was therefore rightly and justly punished. We also see on the cross the gospel in all its loving-kindness as it shows us the great love of Christ Jesus who willing and gladly took upon Himself our sin, bore our punishment in our place, suffered and died so that we may now have forgiveness and life everlasting in His glorious fellowship. May the loving sacrifice of Your Beloved Son instruct our minds and impassion our hearts so that we daily remain confident of our forgiveness and joyful in our right standing before You, O Lord. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Hebrews 9,15.26b-28. Good Friday

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