Crucified, Dead, and Buried

This is part of a series of reflections on the Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell,
The third day, He rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitting on the right hand of God the Father almighty
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church
The communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

​Isaiah made many prophesies about the Messiah.  One however, is particularly alarming:

“Yet, It was the will of the Lord to crush him
  he has put him to grief”

This causes us to wonder why.  Why does the Lord send the Christ and then “crush him?”

The answer goes all the way back to the beginning.  Well, almost the beginning.  It goes back to that moment when humanity determined that we wanted to know what God knows, rather than to rely on God.  Let us see for ourselves!  We liked what we saw.  We saw and took.

And the fall of man, brought the curse of sin.  All manner of nature became broken, and what was created for our pleasure became wrought with grief.
Right then and there, God announced that He would set things right.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, 
and between your offspring and her offspring; 
he shall bruise your head, 
and you shall bruise his heel.” 

In other words, someone would be born into the world that would destroy sin and its curse.  That redemption would come through suffering.

The rest of the Old Testament points to this.  At the passover, a beloved lamb dies but the people in the house are spared.  In the tabernacle, an offering is made every year for atonement, and that offering is death.  Jesus even told them that he was manna; food from heaven.  His followers must live at his expense.
​
When the time came, the tragedy of injustice caused even nature itself to react.  Yet, it was God’s will for this tragedy to take place.  It was indeed unfair, for in that moment on the cross, all of my sin was placed on someone else.  At the cross I find that I do not get what I deserve.  I trade my sin for Christ’s righteousness.  It was not just the Christ, but every transgression I ever committed or will commit was crucified.  That sin was dead, buried, setting the stage for creation to begin anew.

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