“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”
I PETER 3:18
Pastor Rick Jackson
The message of the whole Bible is basically Who He is and what He did! He, Jesus, the Just, suffered for the sins of us, sinners- the unjust. But what did he suffer?
We know he suffered immeasurable physical pain via the beatings, the beard plucking, the crucifixion…
But also in Gethsemane He suffered mental anguish as the Devil tried to kill Him with sorrow but He prayed and lived to go to the cross. Oh- you thought He prayed to get out of the cross? Better think again. Compare Luke 22:41-45 with Hebrews 5:7 Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
But we suffer physically and, though not like Him entirely, others were crucified. We suffer mentally though not like Him entirely. So what suffering did He suffer for us so that if we receive Him we will NOT suffer? He suffered our Hell.
We know He bore our sins. Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
We know [Romans 6:23] … the wages of sin is death; …
We know this is a spiritual death as described in Revelation 20:13-14 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
So the question is, “How did He take our Hell?” While we cannot fully comprehend it we know He did. We have to ask ourselves. What is Hell?
1. HELL IS THIRST!
Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
2. HELL IS SEPARATION FROM GOD!
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
3. HELL IS DARKNESS!
Matthew 8:11-12 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
4. HELL IS PHYSICAL TORMENT!
Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Psalm 22:14-16 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
5. HELL IS SHAME & CONTEMPT!
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
6. HELL IS FOR SINNERS!
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be? not deceived: neither: fornicators, nor, idolaters, nor, adulterers, nor, effeminate, nor, abusers of themselves with mankind, ,
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Hebrews 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
7. HELL IS ETERNAL!
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Hell is forever. It continues as long as Heaven does. The same words are used to describe the length of both. So how did Jesus in the 3 hours of darkness on the cross suffer an eternal Hell? We are finite beings, God is infinite. We had a beginning- God did not. As finite beings if we pay for our sins in Hell we must stay there forever and ever. The only way a finite being can pay for sin against an infinite Holy God is to pay an eternal debt in Hell.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was God incarnate, God in the flesh, an infinite being since He is God- the same yesterday, today, and forever. While a finite being can only pay an eternal debt in an infinite span an infinite being can pay an eternal debt in a finite span. Hence Christ can pay the eternal debt of all lost sinners by suffering the agonies of Hell for 3 hours.
A finite being cannot even pay his own debt. An holy, innocent, infinite being can pay many others debts- He owes none Himself! The Just for the unjust.
He died on the cross but He didn’t stay dead. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:… by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”
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