Jesus Endured

What Did Jesus Do?

The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.
Mark 9.31

Jesus endured the agonies of the cross up to the “ninth hour” (3 o’clock p.m.) before surrendering his spirit. (Matthew 27.50) Shortly thereafter Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took courage, and, getting permission from Pilate, they took the body of Jesus and prepared it for burial and placed it in a garden tomb not far from the place of the crucifixion. (John 19.38-42)

It would be a mistake for us to assume that Jesus slept in stately repose in Joseph’s tomb. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians about a mission, a rescue mission if you like, a “Saving Private Ryan” kind of mission, not merely behind enemy lines, but to the very heart of the enemy’s kingdom:

“When he ascended on high he led a
host of captives,
and he gave gifts to them.”

(In saying “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Ephesians 4.8-10

Jesus did not rest in the tomb, but mounted an assault on Hell itself, a historic essential of faith long affirmed in the Apostles’ Creed. Jesus endured three days of, well, Hell, that we might enjoy Heaven for eternity. Satan was not to be allowed to hold onto any the Father had elected to forgive and set free, and so the Son dutifully endured the terrors of the grave, and the descent into Hell, to complete the Father’s will.

Many think of the time between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection as three days of quiet inaction. To the contrary, the most epic story of cosmic confrontation and deliverance was going on, the details of which, if we shall ever know them, will only be revealed when we ourselves enter eternity. It is a part of the Good News, a chapter of the Gospels, if you will, as yet unwritten.

Jesus promised that everyone who endures to the end will be saved (Mark 13.13). This is so because the Father gave the Son a mission—to endure to the end, and beyond, for the sake of elect. That’s what Jesus did.
S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4