His Work In The Death And Resurrection Of The Lord

by David Rae | Category: The Holy Spirit | Aug 1961

It is most interesting to trace from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments the numerous references which the Holy Spirit makes to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament the subject is dealt with prophetically, in the Gospels historically, and in the Epistles doctrinally. In all the writings of God the subject is ever before the divine mind, and it will never, through eternal ages, be forgotten.

That there are many aspects of the Spirit's presentation of this great event one is aware, and our object is to attempt to trace a few thoughts relative to this great theme which angels desire to look into (1 Peter 1.11, 12), who praised God at His wondrous birth (Luke 2), and who years later declared to the women at the empty tomb, " He is not here, but is risen " (Luke 24.6).

THE PROPHETICAL ASPECT.

Most are aware that many scriptures of the Old Testament set forth the Lord's death and resurrection in type and shadow in a most illuminating manner, but let us look a little at the Spirit's work in His direct prophetic utterances--for instance, in 1 Peter 1. 11, we learn that the prophets (that is, the Old Testament prophets) were searching "what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them." In point of fact, "men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1. 21). It is thus abundantly clear that God foreshadowed by the mouth of all His prophets that His Christ should suffer. It is also clear that the Jewish leaders, the teachers of the Law of God, men who sat under the Spirit-breathed Word and listened to the voices of the prophets read in their hearing every sabbath, fulfilled to the letter those very scriptures written so long before ; for though they found no cause of death in Him yet they asked of Pilate that He should be slain (Acts 3.13-15).'

A few citations will amply show the Spirit's accurate detail in recounting those transcendent scenes, upon the fulfilment of which the eternal purposes of God rest, and on the fulfilment of which, during the L6rd's sufferings, the sun in the heavens withheld its light (Luke 23.44, 45).

Note the words of Moses, who in giving instructions to Israel by the Spirit in relation to the paschal lamb wrote "Neither shall ye break a bone thereof (Exodus 12 46) We read in John 19.83: "When they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs. Think again of the prophetic word of the Psalmist of Israel, who, guided by the Spirit, wrote: "They pierced My hands and My feet (Psalm 22 16). " When we consider the number of small bones grouped closely together to form the structure of the hands and feet, we can only bow with deepest wonder and trace most assuredly in all this the unerring hand of the Spirit, for the sin-hardened men who so ruthlessly nailed the Saviour to the Cross never for one moment realized that what they then did, and the manner in which they did it, fulfilled the Scriptures. (We do not, of course, wish to minimize human guilt in all this, for men will be held accountable, even as the Lord said to Pilate, "He that delivered Me unto thee hath greater sin" (John 19.11). Thus it is written and thus it was fulfilled). Was there ever any sorrow like unto the Lord's sorrow in the day of God's fierce anger, when His righteous indignation burned against sin and the crushing weight of human guilt and its punishment fell upon the blessed Holy One, who had always pleased Him well? As a Man on earth He ever knew unbroken fellowship with God until the awful hour when in the throes of deep anguish on Golgotha's cross He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Compare Lamentations 1.12 and Matthew 27.46.)

Many other scriptures might be quoted from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, all pointing forward, through the rolling centuries, to the cross of Golgotha. A sure and solid foundation was laid for ever by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Upon this foundation the eternal purposes of God are based, and, blessed be God! no power can ever thwart or hinder these purposes from ultimately going on to their complete fulfilment. The gracious Holy Spirit further presents in prophecy this blessed One as

The Seed of the woman bruised (Genesis 3.15),

The Shepherd of the flock smitten (Zechariah 13.7),

The Servant of Jehovah marred (Isaiah 52. 14),

Christ our Passover sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5.7).

With wonder and amazement we now approach the transfiguration scene on the holy mount, where Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets, appeared with Him, and the theme of that memorable conversation was His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem, the holy city, at the place called Golgotha outside its ancient walls (Luke 9.31).

HISTORIC ASPECT.

In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus, full of the Spirit, "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for He giveth not the Spirit by measure" (John 3.34), gradually unfolded to His disciples that the cross would precede the throne; that the crown of thorns would precede the diadems; that the path of humiliation would precede His exaltation. Though His words fell upon the ears of those devoted men they, alas, but little understood their import or significance, and, like ourselves, perhaps, they were slow of heart to believe (Luke 24.25). However, let us look at some of His words as unfolded in Luke's Gospel, with particular reference to the cross. "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up " (Luke 9.22). "Let these words sink into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men" (Luke 9.44). "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written by the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of man. For He shall be delivered up unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully entreated, and spit upon: and they shall scourge and kill Him: and the third day He shall rise again" (Luke 18.31-33).

Looking at it now in retrospect, after Pentecost, we find the charges as follows :- " They that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets though they found no cause of death in Him, yet asked they of Pilate that He should be slain" (Acts 13.27-29).

Stephen by the Spirit charged Israel with being the betrayers and murderers of the "Righteous One "(Acts 7.52). Peter by the Spirit charged Israel that they through the hands of the Gentiles "killed the Prince of life" (Acts 2.28; 3.14, 15). Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2.7, 8, shows that the rulers of this world were implicated, for had they known the wisdom of God they would not have crucified the "Lord of glory." Marvellous mystery indeed! that He whom the Spirit reveals as dwelling in the bosom of the Father, the Object of His changeless love, in infinite grace became the Object of the bitterest human hatred: for at Golgotha the combined powers of the religious world, as seen in Israel, of the political and military, as seen in Rome, were well represented in the rich and poor, refined and degraded, the learned and illiterate, religious and profane, priest and people, who were now joined in one great alliance of raging enmity against Christ.

'Tis mystery all; the Immortal dies!

Who can explore His strange design?

THE DIVINE ASPECT.

What a comforting thought indeed, to realize that over all the best laid schemes of ungodly men, whether indeed they be kings or paupers, there is the restraining hand of God! Note the words in Acts 4.26-28, "The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed." Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, the peoples of Israel all gathered "to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel foreordained to come to pass." It was thus far and no farther. So whilst it is true that He was delivered up by Israel's leaders to Pilate, and he in turn delivered Him up to be crucified, yet behind it all lay the divine counsel and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2. 28).. Apart from this fundamental truth, as the Lord reminded Pilate, men would have had no power against Him, except it had been given them from above, and so, "the things which God foreshewed by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled "(Acts 3.18). Note also that in Isaiah 53.9 it is recorded, "They made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death." The word "wicked" here is plural, and the word "rich" is singular, which is in agreement with what happened. Wondrous beyond words it is to behold Him who "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God" (Hebrews 9.14), and more wonderful still,

In summing up these brief observations we see the Spirit placing before our wondering eyes-

(a)Christ was slain in the eternal purposes of God.

(b)He was slain by the sword of divine Justice.

(c)He was slain by the hands of lawless men.

(d)He was slain for our sake, and in our stead.

He gave Himself a Ransom for all (1 Timothy 2.6),

He gave Himself for the Church (Ephesians 5.25),

He gave Himself for us (Titus 2.14),

He gave Himself up for me (Galatians 2.20).

HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION.

"When the days were well-nigh come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9.51).

The blessed One who was lifted up upon the cross was raised up by the Spirit (Romans 8. 11), and has been received up in glory. "But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10.12). He has been exalted to God's right hand, "having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him" (1 Peter 3. 22).

His wound-prints bear eternal testimony to man's guilt. They are an evidence of His physical sufferings, most patiently borne on Golgotha's cross. His wounds are an expression of His great victory over sin and death and all the power of the enemy, and so in truth we can exultantly Sing,

Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,

Slain in His victory,

Who lived, who died, who lives again,

For thee, His Church, for thee.

He who was slain is seen

On God's eternal throne,

And His redeemed are white and clean

Through Him alone.

Salvation's joyful sound

Bursts from the blood-bought throng,

And soon creation all around,

Shall join the song."