The Two Seekers – Chapter Ten, The Destroyer’s Coffin
The True Tale of the Two Seekers – Ch. 10, The Destroyer’s Coffin.
“The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost… On the other hand, the devil, our great enemy and accuser, is constantly prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone, anyone, to devour. This adversary is like a thief whose only purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. But the almighty Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, was revealed to us for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil, to undo his evil activities, and completely put an end to everything that the Evil One has accomplished.” (quoted from Luke 19:10, 1Peter 5:8, 1 John 3:8, and John 10:10).
The Four Nails on the Coffin of the Destroyer: The beginning of the end for Satan started with the Cross of Christ, followed by His descent into hell on Holy Saturday, soon followed by His glorious Resurrection, and then finally His Ascension into the heavenly presence of the Father. Though people often like to separate those four monumental God-events, the fact is that those four triumphs were all parts of a whole and are a package deal. We can’t isolate one of those events as more important than the others. It could be considered a Salvation Drama in four Acts, each Act just as important as the others. Or one could say we are referring here to a Song of Redemption that is in four-part harmony. The Song can’t be sung any other way without it going off-key and not the way the composer intended it to be sung. Each of the four harmonious melodies was successful in (mixing my metaphors here) driving one nail after another into the devil’s coffin. Each of these Christ-events sealed the fate of the Destroyer, and spiritually defeated the powers of darkness and thus the author of death itself.
The 1st Nail in the Coffin of the Destroyer – The Cross of Christ.
Seeing Jesus dead on the Cross, the devil thought he had it made. He thought that Christ’s death would result in the removal of His spiritual powers and His very presence on the earth. The devil fooled himself into thinking that he was finally victorious over his arch-enemy and rid of Jesus for good. But the devil was ignorant of the power of Christ’s pure blood of sacrifice. The devil didn’t realize that the Author of life was infinitely more powerful than the author of death, that the pure Passover blood of Christ put the death sentence on the bloodless powers of darkness. The devil was blind to the life-giving powers of Jesus, even after the big hint of all those tombs being opened at Christ’s death, and those resurrected bodies walking around Jerusalem. The Cross was the beginning of the end for the Destroyer, and he knew he had no hope of ever thwarting God’s plan of salvation. The Cross put Satan into Death Row. There is an Orthodox hymn in which Death is personified, and is at first puzzled by what it is experiencing during Christ’s crucifixion. The confusion turns to panic as Death realizes its own efforts to kill the Christ has resulted in its own destruction. “Christ’s torment, suffering and death is actually crucifying death. Christ’s own death turns out to be the annihilation of death.”
“Faithful cross! above all other, one and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be;
Sweetest wood, and sweetest iron! Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory! Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor that thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the king of heavenly beauty on they bosom gently tend.” (Honorius Fortunatus, 569 AD).
Oh The Cross (Live) – UPPERROOM
The 2nd Nail in the Coffin of the Destroyer – The Descent into Hell.
A large portion of the Christian Church believes that something very significant occurred during the time period between the Cross and the Empty Tomb, between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The historical term for this Christ-event is “the Harrowing of Hell,” when on Holy Saturday, while in the spirit-realm, Jesus made a journey into the pit of hell as the Savior to announce His victory over death, to preach to those who were deprived of exposure to Christ, and redeem those persons imprisoned there. “Harrowing” means that Jesus was conducting a rescue operation in which He aggressively raided the place of the dead and performed acts of liberation there. The very gates of hell couldn’t keep the conquering Savior out of hell’s precincts. This proved to be another step in conquering the Devil, another Christ-event in the process of diminishing his powers. This is the important act of Christ announcing the Good News to the dead.
“This is why the gospel was proclaimed to those who are now dead; it was so that, although physically they would receive the judgment common to all humanity, they might live by the Spirit in the way that God has provided.” (1 Peter 4:6).
“That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all – was put to death and then made alive – to bring us to God. He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. (1 Peter 3:18-19)
“Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of eve. The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, the weapon that had won Him the victory. At the sight of Him, Adam, the first man He had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him, “And with your spirit.” He took Adam by the hand and raised him up, saying, “Awake O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of My hands, you who were created in My image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in Me and I am in you. Rise, let us leave this place. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.” (from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday, by Ephiphanius, 440-464 A.D.)
The 3rd Nail in the Coffin of the Destroyer – The Resurrection.
Death Defeated | The Altar Music – YouTube
Without the literal and historical Resurrection of Jesus, there would be no point to the Christian faith. This Christ-event is the miracle of miracles, and proved for the world that God’s divine power of life exceeds for all time the demonic powers of death. And we would have no hope of the resurrection of our bodies without the Resurrection of Jesus’ body.
One can imagine an intimate conversation like this on Resurrection Sunday: Early on the third day, the Father looked inward and said to His Spirit, “Dear Friend, the time has come for death to finally die. Just as you breathed life into the First Adam in the Garden, this is the moment when I would like you to enter that deathly tomb, bend over the lifeless body of my Son who is the Last Adam, and breathe life into Him. Sing this new life into His mouth with your heavenly breath. My Son has now completed His mission, for He has crashed through the gates of the Place of the Dead. He has planted the holy Cross on that unholy ground, and brought the light of our glory to all whose there who have followed what little light they had been shown during their lives on earth. My Son preached there to those who were largely in the dark about Me and my presence in this world, and He has opened the gates of heaven to all the righteous who came before He appeared in the flesh. So my Son has finished the message of redemption to all people through all time from all places. Now the moment has arrived to breathe your sacred breath into my Son. Rejoice with me, my dear Spirit, as my Son now brings new life to the world! Be glad as your Wind blows through that dark tomb and into the dead body of Jesus. Jump for joy, O life-giving Spirit, as my Son will soon come back home forever!
There were many prophecies of Christ’s rising from the dead, even from the mouth of Jesus Himself on many different occasions in the Gospels (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:19; Matthew 26:32; Mark 9:90; Mark 10:32; and Luke 18:31) . The Hebrew Bible threw hints of the Resurrection all over the place: Job made a beautiful statement of faith in Job 19:35, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!” Or look at Daniel 12:2-3, “Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.” There are other passages that refer to the resurrection of the dead, including Isaiah 26:19, Hosea 13:14, and many times in Psalms (17:15, 49:15, 71:20).
“The Resurrection is, first and foremost, the act of infinite tenderness by which the Father, after the terrible suffering of the Passion, revived his Son from death by means of the Holy Spirit and made him Lord. It is the cry with which God, after holding back and putting up with violence for a long time, finally breaks his silence. The Father, to express it in human terms, drew near to Jesus in the tomb just as someone here would gently draw near the crib of a child who is sick or sleeping, and awoke him from the sleep of death. The gospel tells us that Jesus one day came upon the casket of a young man who had died and cried out, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” and the young man sat up, and Jesus returned him to his mother (Luke 7:14). Now it is the Father who comes near to the tomb of Jesus and cries out, “Son, I say to you, arise!” and Jesus sits up and arises. The Father is the one who resurrects, the Son is the resurrected one, and the Holy Spirit is the resurrection itself. The action of the Father is the source of the greatest hope for us, because it declares in advance what he will one day also do for us. (from Contemplating the Trinity, by R. Cantalamessa).
The 4th Nail in the Coffin of the Destroyer – The Ascension.
“Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and then they could no longer see him. Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. So they worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy.” (Mark 16:19-20; Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:9). The Ascension, when Jesus was taken up into heaven in bodily form. He was then received by the angels in the glory of God’s Kingdom. In this act, Jesus united earth and heaven, and through this event, the Father verified the successful accomplishment of Jesus’ earthly mission.
“The Ascension is an essential component of the very sacrifice of the Cross. The atoning sacrifice of Christ did not end on Golgotha, but was rendered perfect and complete by his definitive entrance into the eternal Holy of Holies. The Ascension is integral to the Lord’s priesthood. If he was simply on earth, he wouldn’t be our High Priest.” (Father Reardon, Christ in the Psalms).
“Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.” (1 Peter 3:22). “By ascending through all the cosmic spheres, Christ took possession of them all, one after another, and becomes the head of the total cosmos, and makes the entire universe acknowledge Him as Lord.” (NJB notes). “By virtue of the redemption, all of creation belongs to Jesus.” (Father Reardon).
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:7-10). “Psalm 24 is the coronation song crowning Christ as Lord of all. It is a celebration of the Lord’s glorious entrance into the heavenly sanctuary and royal court.” (Father Reardon).
“Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11). The Ascension completed the union of God and humanity, for a Man who is God now reigns in heaven.” (Orthodox Liturgy).
The Ascension resulted in the glorification of Jesus Christ, in which His divine nature is finally unveiled. He shares equally in power and authority with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. His eternal royal status as Lord of all is immovable and unshakeable. For all eternity Jesus will share in the authority and honor of God. Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of the Father in body and spirit, and “lives to make intercession for us.” (Heb. 7:25), to be the mediator between us and God. Jesus’ constant presence in heaven as our High Priest assures us our forgiveness and acceptance. The sacrifice is accomplished and eternally complete.
Because of Christ’s Crucifixion, Descent into Hell, Resurrection, and finally His Ascension, the coffin of the Destroyer is now nailed shut, his demise is assured, he has received his well-earned death sentence, and he awaits his destiny, his eternal doom, at the Lord’s final judgment. Thanks be to God!