What do we really mean when we say, "I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried, and He descended into hell"? In the Latin version of the Creed it is: “And He descended into Hades”, the place of the dead. He ascended to glory, but He ascended to glory only after He had descended to Hades. Does this mean (as sometimes church tradition has suggested) that Jesus went to those who were in hell and pronounced His judgement upon them? In all likelihood, in this instance it is almost certainly better to understand that something different is going on in the Creed here.

Remember how it is much later on in the Creed that we say, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." If you are really a shrewd non-Christian reader of the Apostles' Creed, a question you would ask is, "But why do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? What grounds do you have for believing in the forgiveness of sins?" And if you are a Christian, one of the things you will want to say is, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins because the Lord Jesus descended into hell."

Why is this important? It is important for this reason (follow me very closely). When I say, "I believe that He was crucified, dead and buried", I am not saying anything unique about the Lord Jesus Christ. I am saying nothing at all unique about the Lord Jesus Christ. Within about 40 years of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, the Roman government had lined about 200 kilometres of roadway with crucified people. They were crucified, dead, and in a few cases their families would get their bodies for burial. So when we say this, we are not saying anything unique, and we are not really saying anything special about our Lord Jesus Christ. But when we then say that there was a special significance to what Jesus was doing when He was “crucified, dead and buried” – when we then say, “He descended into hell” – we are beginning to explain to people who don't understand the gospel very well (but need it very desperately) that there is a very solid foundation for us being able to say, “I believe in the forgiveness of my sins”.

In other words, we might put it like this: To say Jesus was “crucified, dead and buried” is not the gospel, because we can say that about endless thousands of other people in antiquity, and especially in the first century. But when we say, “I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried, and that this man [was] confessed by the Roman centurion to be the Son of God, and over and over and over again in the passion narrative [was] acknowledged by everybody who was engaged in His crucifixion (whether they were Jewish religious leaders or Pontius Pilate or the Roman centurion or others) to be a man who was completely innocent of the crimes with which He was charged, we begin to see that something is being said here that takes us to the very heart of the gospel.

If I can say it again: To say Jesus was “crucified, dead and buried” is not gospel, because it can be said about all kinds of people, good and bad. But to say that Jesus descended into hell, and therefore we can believe in the forgiveness of sins – that is gospel! Because that is explaining to us the meaning, the reason, for Him being crucified, dead and buried.

The Depth of Jesus’ Suffering⤒🔗

And we have a number of clues about that in this passage that we have read in Mark's Gospel, and also in the whole passion narrative. When we say that Jesus “descended into hell” – that Jesus really died a particular kind of death – we are obviously wanting to emphasize the reality of His suffering. Here is an interesting thing: The Quran believes that Jesus hung on the cross, but doesn't believe that Jesus died on the cross. Why? Because if He were the Son of God, He couldn't die on the cross. It would be unworthy of the great Prophet to die upon the cross. So before Jesus died on the cross, the Son of God, as it were, “left Him”. Because Islam could never tolerate a God who was prepared to die on the cross. That is one of the explanations for the way Islam is, and it is also the deepest explanation for the way the Christian faith is. At the very heart of the Christian faith is this amazing statement that it was by the blood of God that was shed on the cross. God become man for us, God assuming our humanity, and in that humanity tasting the humiliation and the shame not just of death, but this kind of death, which was a punishment for blasphemy and for treason.

(Transcription of audio file from 14:41 to 14:47 and 15:31 to 15:47 omitted.)

It underlines to us really (if I can put it this way) that Jesus went through not just hell on earth, but hell on the cross. And one of the things that means for me and for you is that when you say, "How are things going for you?" [and] somebody says to you, "I feel I am going through hell on earth, and there is nobody who understands", here is one of the great messages of the gospel: He has been through hell on the cross, and He understands perfectly.

And that is actually one of the lessons that the New Testament often brings out of the fact that Jesus died such a death of humiliation and shame. Here is how a very early theologian by the name of Melito of Sardis beautifully expresses this:

He who hung the earth [in its place] hangs there, he who fixed the heavens is fixed there, he who made all things fast is made fast upon the tree, the Master has been insulted, God has been murdered…O strange murder, strange crime!Homily on the Passion, Second Century

And it is really, isn't it? But it is not a tragedy. It is not a tragedy. Because out of that strange crime perpetrated against Him, yet under the gracious purposes of His heavenly Father, He became a Man of sorrows who is a acquainted with grief. And there isn't a single sorrow or grief you or I experience that we cannot bring to Him and say to Him, "Lord Jesus, you understand." So it is vitally important for us, actually, when we go through our own suffering, to realize that He has tasted the hell depths of suffering.

The Measure of Jesus’ Love←⤒🔗

But there is another reason why it is important: It is not only an expression of the depth of His sufferings; it is an expression of the measure of His love. Here is a curious thing: You won't find this in many other places, but the Christian faith says (Paul says it in Romans 5) that God demonstrated His love to us in that Christ died for us when we were sinners. Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates his own love to us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Just think about that statement for a moment, because this is what Jesus is doing on the cross. This is why He cries out, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" But think about the statement. How does God show His love to us by His Son dying on the cross?

A very great theologian of 100 years ago put it like this. You are walking along a river bank, and you see someone who is in difficulty in the water. They are drowning, and you jump in. And do you drown with them to show your love? No, no. That is not what you do. You don't say, “I see your need, I see your plight, and I am going to jump into the water to share your plight.” You don't save them by doing that! One of the amazing things is that there are occasions when people will jump into the water to save a youngster, and in the process they will lose their own life. And then that youngster can say for the rest of their life (I have known people who have been able to say this for the rest of their lives), "He died instead of me. He took my place."

That is really what this expression in the Apostles' Creed is meant to help us understand. God doesn't show His love for us simply by identifying with us in our misery, but doing something on the cross to take away our sins. If you thing about it, if all Jesus was doing on the cross was showing us that God loves us by identifying with us, why would He ever have cried out, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" Why would He not have cried out, "My God, you are with me in the way in which I am showing them my love"? The reason He cried out, "My God, why am I forsaken?" is because He was undergoing this mysterious and yet gloriously real transaction that was taking place between Himself and His Father, in which He was saying, "Father, if you make to meet upon me the sins of them all (Isaiah 53:6), then will you take my righteousness and give it to them, so that I can die in their place and bring them salvation?"

The True Meaning of Jesus’ Death←⤒🔗

That is why when we look at the passage in Mark 15 we see the depth of Jesus' sufferings, the measure of Jesus' love, and yes, the true meaning of His death. You must have noticed what the religious leaders said. They said to Him, "Save yourself." He did have a choice, didn't He? But He couldn't both save Himself and save us. He was there crying out, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" in the darkness. God, as it were, did this in the darkness, behind the gaze of prying eyes. It was something so wonderful, so sacred really, between Himself and His Son that, as it were, He hid men's eyes from this awful moment when He Himself was apparently going to turn His face away from His Son, in order that He might never turn His face away from me.

Dear friends, the cross was the one place in the world where the 23^rd Psalm ceased to work. The cross was the one place in the world where the Aaronic Blessing ceased to work (“The LORD turn His face towards you, and give you peace”). In order that the 23^rd Psalm might work for me, in order that the Aaronic blessing at the end of Numbers 6 might be a reality to me, Jesus walked into territory where the Aaronic blessing could not be pronounced and the 23^rd Psalm was simply about the valley of deepest darkness, where He felt absolutely alone.

That is actually why I chose this hymn, There is a Green Hill Far Away (1848). For many of us that is a children's hymn, and I think it was actually written as a children's hymn. But I chose it for this reason: The man who founded the seminary in which I used to teach full time, who was an extraordinary, brilliant scholar, when he was asked, “What is your favourite hymn?” he would always say:

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.Cecil Frances Alexander, There is a Green Hill Far Away, 1848

Wouldn't you think that a brilliant scholar (as that man was) would say something like Of the Father’s Love Begotten (1582)? No. Why did he love this one? Because he knew that, brilliant scholar though he was, he could never get to the bottom of this, but tiny little children could sing that hymn and understand the very heart of the Christian gospel.

That is so like God, don't you think? There are people in the world who demand of God that He should be powerfully cerebral and explain things to them in scientific formula. The truth of the matter is: If God uses “God formula” to explain anything He ever does, not even Einstein could find a way to understand the mystery of what God is doing. No, the thing that is really God-like, the thing that is so wonderful about God, the thing [about] this great, majestic Creator, this holy, righteous, infinite God, is that He loves the little children. He hides things (as Jesus says) from people who think, “I am a wise and understanding kind of man!” He hides things from them. And you see that. I have met people with brilliant intellect who don't understand beans about the simplicities of the Christian gospel. It is amazing! They don't understand beans about it. And I have met little children of three and four and five who have begun to understand: “There is a green hill far away, without a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.”

(Transcription of audio file from 26:00 to 26:10 and 26:25 to 26:42 omitted.)

I was listening last night to an address that a friend of mine had given at a ministers' conference in England with which I have some association. My friend is minister in Manhattan – Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Some of you will know his name. He was saying in the course of the address something that touched me deeply. He was saying in this conference how in the course of trying to preach on what it was that Jesus Christ had done for us, he used an illustration from a movie entitled Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). In Angels with Dirty Faces James Cagney is Rocky the Murderer, and he is going to the place of execution. Pat O'Brien is a lifelong friend who is a priest. The priest says to Rocky, "Rocky, you have got to go to the chair kicking and screaming." And Rocky says, "This is my hour. I'll spit in their faces." The priest says, "But there are all these boys in New York City, and they are looking to you. You go like that and it is the end of their lives. Please, you go yellow, exposed, humiliated, kicking and screaming. Because Rocky, it is you or it is them." And the next day Rocky goes to the chair kicking and screaming for the salvation of the boys. The interesting thing was, Tim went on to say, was that somehow or another they had played this message he preached at the Bowery Mission in New York for prisoners, people off the streets and all kinds of needy people. He said what he heard was that for these – often the least educated, the poorest, the meanest and the lowest – they got the connection. He dies or we die.

Because Christ has died, I don't need to die for my sins. I can have the forgiveness of sins, and with the forgiveness of sins the power and the hope of a new and transformed life. It was really wonderful to hear the fruit of this Jimmy Cagney illustration. Wouldn’t Jimmy Cagney have been absolutely astonished to know that his little dramatic part had been used by a minister of the gospel in New York City in the early 2rd millennium, and that because of that there were simple, poor, needy, alienated and sinful people brought to faith in Jesus Christ! Because it helped them to see:

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
Cecil Frances Alexander, There is a Green Hill Far Away, 1848

(Transcription of audio file from 29:13 to 29:43 omitted.)

I want to ask you today with all my heart: Have you got hold of this? It is because He died in our place that we don't need to stand before a holy God and be sent to the outer darkness. It is because He died that we can have forgiveness of sins. And when we have forgiveness of sins, we begin to live. I say this especially with a certain poignancy today because, like rocket scientists who haven't understood beans about the gospel, I have known people at every stage of life, right up to the very end, when I have tried to explain again the simplicities of the wonder of the gospel, and it has been so clear in their eyes that they still don't trust it. And so they don't know forgiveness. Because despite what people say, you can't forgive yourself. Your conscience won't allow it. But there is forgiveness in Jesus. Do let that be true for you, because it is the beginning of wonderful new life.