And in Jesus - Part 3: Descent and Resurrection
After completing the lesson, the student will be able to:
List the 5 stages of Christ’s Humiliation, and the 5 stages of Christ’s Exaltation.
Describe what is meant by Christ’s descent into hell.
List two evidences that describe why Christ’s resurrection is the best explanation for the historical evidence.
Recite from Memory 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
SECOND ARTICLE OF THE APOSTLES CREED (fill in the blanks using your Small Catechism)
Second Article of Redemption
Second Article of Redemption He descended ____________ hell; The third ___________ He rose _______________ from ________ dead,
What does this mean? Not with _______________ and ____________ but with ________ holy and ________________ blood and _________ His innocent _______________ and death; in order that I _____________ be His ________, live under Him ______ His _______________, and serve _______ in everlasting ________________, __________________, and _________________, even as He ______ risen ___________ the _____________
This lesson of the Apostles’ Creed marks a turning point. Up to this point, we have been talking about specific parts of Jesus’ ministry that we call His “Humiliation”. The five stages are:
His birth into poverty
His suffering
His crucifixion
His death
His burial
Remember, Christ is God! He did not need to do any of these things, but He did them anyway. The same people who hung him on the cross to die are the same people he came to save! In the book of Philippians it says “He humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross.”
Read the following passages, and describe how Jesus responded to His humiliation.
Moving forward, we will talk about several different parts of Jesus’ ministry that we call His “Exaltation”. Similar to his Humiliation, there are commonly five stages to Christ’s Exaltation:
Descent into hell
Resurrection
Ascension
Reign at the right hand of the Father
Coming again to judge the living and the dead.
In this lesson we will focus on the first two: His descent into hell, and His resurrection.
It’s important to begin our discussion of the phrase “descended into hell” by establishing why we are talking about Christ’s descent into hell. First, Scripture talks about it. If we ignore these passages, we are ignoring God himself. Second, the Apostles’ Creed talks about it. Since the Apostles’ Creed is a testimony to what Christians have always believed, we should seriously examine what it means. If we say the Creed isn’t important, we are basically saying that all of the Christians who have come before us in the last 2,000 don’t matter at all.
Let’s start with scripture:
Quite simply, these passages show us that when Jesus rose from the dead, he preached to the Spirits in Prison and also descended. While the word “hell” can be used to describe a place of torment, it can also be used to merely describe “the place of the dead”. While many Christians have argued for one or the other, the focus of the phrase “descended into hell” should not be on what the location was like, but rather what Jesus did while there.
Most Christians I talk to have the idea that when Christ descended into hell, He went there as part of the punishment and suffering He endured for our sin. But that is not the case. Instead, Christ was enlivened and went to the place of the dead in victory over death! Jesus was not forced to descend to hell, but rather went there as a conqueror to proclaim His power and victory over Satan’s kingdom.
Why does this matter to us? Just like Jesus was victorious over death, we will one day experience victory over death. 1 Corinthians 15:54b-56 says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your string? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ proclaimed his victory over death and the grave that day. How incredibly awesome is that! Can you imagine what Satan was thinking? Jesus was no longer dead! Instead, He was proclaiming his power and victory over sin, death, and Satan. And now, because Jesus is our Savior, we also will have victory over sin, death, and the devil!
Resurrection - “the third day He rose again from the dead”
The Resurrection validates our faith in Jesus. If Jesus never really rose from the dead, then Christianity is a lie and we should believe something else. But if Jesus did actually come back from the dead, then we are not crazy or nutty for believing in Him. As Christians, we don’t believe in a fairy tale or legend. Instead, we claim that it is a historical fact that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.
The resurrection is such a unique event that there is so much evidence that it happened! Let’s look at two pieces of evidence that Christians, as well as those opposed to Christianity, both agree on:
The tomb where Jesus was buried was empty, and was discovered by a group of women.
The disciples had real experiences with a man they believed was the resurrected Jesus.
Around the time of these events, Christians, Jews, and even the Romans all agreed that Jesus’ Tomb was empty. Since the Jews and Romans had no reason to take Jesus’ body, they tried to say the reason the tomb was empty was because the disciples stole Jesus’ body. It didn’t take long, however, to show this was not reasonable.
As the disciples told others about Jesus, they began to be beaten and even killed for their message. There is no way all of these men would have died for a story they made up. At this point, we are left with two options: Either Jesus’ body mysteriously disappeared with no explanation, or He actually rose from the dead. The best explanation for the Empty Tomb is that a miracle took place: Jesus rose from the dead.
Read Luke 24:1-7, and answer the following questions.
#2 - Resurrection Appearances
The disciples believed they saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. Even critics of Christianity agree to this. But just because they believed that it happened, does not make it true. The two most common arguments against the disciples’ testimony are that they lied about seeing Jesus, or that they hallucinated.
If they lied, they were willing to die for the lie. Even if a small group of fisherman and a tax collector could cover up a monumental event like this, it is extremely unlikely they were willing to die for it. What lie would you be willing to die for? This is not a reasonable objection to the disciples’ testimony.
On the other hand, if they hallucinated that they saw Jesus, it defies all odds. All of the disciples would had to have had the exact same hallucination. The likelihood of it happening is extremely low. And even if they did all hallucinate that they saw Jesus, it still doesn’t explain how Jesus’ tomb is empty. The best explanation for the testimonies of the disciples is that a miracle took place: Jesus rose from the dead.
Read John 20:19-20, and answer the following questions.
There are other many other evidences that all point to the fact that the Resurrection of Jesus is an actual event that happened in History. Here are a couple of resources for those of you who are looking for more information (current 2017):
