That Through Death He Might Destroy Him That Had The Power Of Death

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Sermon preached at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss on Lord’s Day Morning, 16th December, 2018

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”—Hebrews 2:14, 15

The first two chapters in the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews lay the foundation for all that the Apostle has to say later on in this most remarkable part of God’s Holy Word. Chapter 1 tells us, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. More than that, it tells us something even greater. If I may just put it like this: those of us who live in Chippenham and walk down the High Street will often see a little band of people on the river bridge with various tracts. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you ask them ‘Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?’ they will say, ‘Yes.’ But, if you ask them ‘Is He God the Son?’ immediately they will deny it! My dear friends, He is the Son of God, the only begotten Son of the Father. But, He is also God the Son, equal with His Father and equal with the Holy Spirit. One God, three Persons of which He is the second Person, in glorious equality and unity. He is distinct in His personality, yet as much God as the Father and the Holy Ghost.

This is the lesson of Hebrews 1: the Son of God is God the Son. If we do not believe that, dear friends, we have no hope, we have no foundation for our faith and there is no prospect of heaven. For, if it were not God the Son who assumed the nature we are going to speak of in a moment, then all that is in that nature did not have the authority that is necessary to take the cause and the case of sinners in the court of heaven this Sabbath morning. Good John Newton said (he said it well and he said it right)

“I durst not confide in His blood, 

Nor on His protection rely, 

Unless I were sure He is God.”

J. Newton

So, the righteousness He wrought out is the righteousness of God. The blood He shed through that holy humanity that we are going to speak of in a moment is the blood of the Son of God. This is a deep mystery, but a most precious one. To abandon that is to abandon our hope! The second chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews deals with the other side of the nature of Emmanuel. The first chapter speaks of His eternal state. From everlasting to everlasting, He is, was and ever will be God. He says to John in Revelation 1: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.”

We have here, in this second chapter, our subject this morning: His holy humanity. What do we mean by that? Well, there are three things we should remember about it. First of all, it was a nature that He did not have before He came into this earth: a Babe, by birth mysterious. It was decreed He would have that nature from all eternity. The Old Testament scriptures all pointed towards it, but it was only when we see the dear Babe lying in Bethlehem’s manger that we find God, the Son of God, God the Son, manifest in the flesh.

What do we mean by that? Well, the second thing is that it was a real humanity He took into union with His divine person. It was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin, as it says in this very chapter. He was “made like unto His brethren.” So friends, it was not the nature of an angel He took, but it was the nature of the brethren; the children, in our text for whom He came to suffer, bleed and die. He was made bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. Do remember that.

The third thing we must say about His holy humanity is this. It was not another person. It is not as if there are now four persons in the Godhead. There are only three: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. But, amazingly, the second Person sits at the right hand of God this Sabbath morning.

“There sits our Saviour crowned with light, 

Clothed in a body like our own.

Adoring saints around Him stand,

And thrones and powers before Him fall; 

The God shines gracious through the Man, 

And sheds sweet glories on them all.”

I. Watts

It is One glorious Person, both God and Man. As Matthew puts it: “Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” “With us,” in a body and a soul like our own.

Then, of course, we must also remember His humanity was without sin excepted. We will notice in a moment that you and I are “shapen in iniquity.” The Lord Jesus Christ was not born in sin and He was not shapen in iniquity. Do remember that! We read in Luke’s gospel: “That holy thing which shall be born of thee.” That holy thing; that holy humanity; that holy Babe “shall be called the Son of God.” Well, this is Hebrews 1 and 2 before us, this Sabbath morning.

We are told in our subject of one of the most important reasons why He came. You will notice there are three ‘d’s in our text. There is the ‘devil’, there is ‘death’ and there is the word ‘deliver’. Three ‘d’s. The devil, that wretched character, we will speak of in a moment, God willing. There is the word ‘death.’ And then there is this wonderful word ‘deliver.’ Three ‘d’s.

Let us speak first of all of this mysterious person, the devil. Who is he? Where is he? He is very mysterious, but we can glean a little from God’s Holy word, which is our only infallible resource, to understand anything about this mysterious prince of darkness. It would appear that when God created the angels (and they are created beings), that, at first, the devil was among them. We are told that God has an innumerable company of angels at His behest; at His disposal. Mysteriously, and again this is something we can only take from Scripture, and we are not called to pry into it; it seems that at some mysterious point before time began there was a conflict, even in heaven. This conflict was to do with the Person, work, authority, and throne that God the Father had reserved for God the Son. It was that throne which Satan wanted. We are told that Satan, with many of his associates, fought in heaven and were cast out of it. They were a defeated number. And, the end of Satan, or shall we say the eternal destiny of Satan; is the bottomless pit where hope and mercy can never come. Those angels who fell with him will be also consigned with him to that solemn place. And, sadly, those who die out of Christ; those who live and serve Satan here below and are his slaves in sin; those who do not repent and are not brought to faith; those who have no love for a precious Christ, for God the Son or the Son of God will also be in that company to all eternity.

But there is a freedom, a strange freedom that God has permitted Satan at the moment. It was with that freedom that Satan used to his own satanic, advantage (so called), that brought that little, vast, awesome, word ‘sin’ into the vocabulary of man. Let us be clear: God is not the author of the sin that flowed from that freedom. But, Satan knew by his own experience what that would do. Because sin is rebellion, Satan knew that if he could make man a rebel, then he would sever the communion and fellowship between the Creator and the creature. He knew from his own experience how to do it, and he did it. We know that Adam fell.

“When Adam by transgression fell,

And conscious, fled his Maker’s face, 

Linked in clandestine league with hell,

He ruined all his future race:

The seeds of evil once brought in,

Increased and filled the world with sin.”

You and I included! Another word immediately came into the vocabulary of man – fear. There was no fear before sin came. It was one of the fruits of the fall that immediately Adam and Eve were afraid.

Then, another word came into Adam and Eve’s vocabulary; a word that has not been erased. That is the word ‘death.’ “For as in Adam all die.” There are three deaths spoken of in Scripture and they are very important for you to remember this Sabbath morning. The Lord Jesus Christ came to deliver sinners from these three deaths.

The first death is that which we are born in by nature. We are born dead in sins, we are born unspiritual, we are born unquickened, we are born without faith, we are born without repentance, we are born without hope, we are born without Christ and we are born without love to Christ. We are born in love with sin, in love with Satan’s pursuits, in love with Satan’s inclinations, in love with Satan’s temptations and in love to the prince of darkness. We serve him, we are under his dominion and we are subservient to him, though we may know it not in our unregenerate days. That is a spiritual death. You go down to the cemetery in London Road and you walk around. It is a very well kept cemetery. Yet, when all is said and done, under the ground there are hundreds and thousands who have been buried there and they lie there dead. They do not move, they do not feel, they do not see and they do not hear.

There is no reaction. That is how you and I are born spiritually. The thunderings of the law may go out, but there is no response. The beauties of Christ are preached, but there is no response. There is a call to repentance, but there is no response. There is a call to leave this hateful world, but there is no response. All there is, is that willing – and note what I have just said – that willing enmity against God and godliness. There is a willingness to continue in this state of unbelief and unregeneracy, having no desire to be any different to how we were born, seeking to live in this world and have a good life in it, not even thinking about an eternity that follows. Are there any here this Sabbath morning still in that state? Examine your hearts. Are you as dead as those down London Road in the cemetery, spiritually speaking?

But, there are some here, many here I trust; who have known a deliverance. And how was that brought to pass? This mighty Deliverer, of whom we are going to speak, has wrought, by His Holy Spirit, an irreversible, invincible change. He has not altered the old nature they were born in; that is still dead. It is one of their greatest troubles that they carry round like a dead weight a heart of stone: unbelieving, impenitent, worldly, carnal, fleshly, corrupt! It is their greatest trouble. But there is a new nature, a new heart and a new spirit put within. It is called the Spirit of Christ. It is called the work of the Holy Ghost. It is a new heart. It is a feeling heart. It is a sensitive heart. It is a heart that mourns over sin. It is a heart that prays. It is a heart that seeks a precious Christ. It is a heart that holds communion with Christ. It is a heart that cannot rest in this dying world. It is a heart that wants food for its soul, and it wants a preparation for eternity. Such have known the deliverance from the death that they were born in. God grant that each one here under the roof of Old Baptist Chapel, and all who may be listening to this sermon this Sabbath morning, may not be left to come to their dying day without a deliverance from the way in which they were born. Friends, we come back to the text that I repeat so often. Perhaps you are weary of hearing me say it, but I am not weary of saying it: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” And what is it to be born again? It is for the Holy Ghost to come into your heart with that breath which is a pure, holy, spiritual, living, lively exercise and bring a change, translating you from the kingdom of Satan, translating you out of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. From darkness to light, from death to life, from bondage to liberty! ‘But,’ you say, ‘the ones in our text are in “bondage!’ We will come to that in a moment.

Let us just speak about this first death that you and I need delivering from. This deliverance is vital, it is essential and it must take place this side of the grave, if it is to take place at all. This first death is how we die. “In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” If you go into the local wood, Birds Marsh, you will see large trees that have fallen. No one can move them. As the wind blew them there, so they lie. Well, dear friends, “In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” As your tree falls, so it shall lie. Will it fall towards God, or away from Him? Will it fall towards Christ, or away from Him?

The second death that came into man’s vocabulary was what we may call the natural death. That is the death that awaits us all. It is when our soul must return to God who gave it and the body returns to the dust from whence it came. Why must the body come to this end? Why must it? When a babe is born it looks so beautiful and so precious. And so it is; it is a wonderful creation. But, it grows up and it is not long before it shows the old nature. The eye, the ear, the tongue, the feet, the hands are used in Satan’s service. And because of that, the body must be consigned at last to the grave, because of the sin that has been committed in it and because of the way we have served Satan in it. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” We will come back to that word again in a moment.

This word ‘death’ awaits us all. Some of us who are now older realise that our generation is passing away. Those with whom we communed and had fellowship in the Gospel are being taken from us and we realise that our own days are numbered. The shadows of life begin to lengthen. I look back over my years and how quickly they have gone! Like a flash! The great point is, dear friends, are we prepared for this great change? But, what is death, really? What does happen when the body ceases to breathe and breathe no more? All our faculties are gone and gone completely. No one can reverse what has happened. What does take place? Is that the end? Is there nothing after that? Is there what the atheist and agnostic would try to tell us, annihilation? Or what the false religions with their strange views try and tell us about; reincarnation? What does take place? “After this” – after the life you have lived – “the judgment.” In other words, the soul immediately appears in the presence of its Creator; the God who gave the body, the God who gave the soul. That person stands in the presence of his Maker; his Creator and has to answer for the life that was lived in the body. The Word of God tells us: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” And God has an accurate record. Your memory and mine is very short as far as our sins are concerned. We sweep them away under the carpet and think that none will know! But God knows. If you are made “wise unto salvation,” sins will be exposed in your conscience before God for you to confess and seek grace to repent of. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Is there a young one here trying to cover a sin up? Mum and Dad didn’t see it, nor did your brothers or sisters. But God did! And God will bring you to account for it. Your mercy would be to confess it before God, and, if necessary, confess it to your parents, or whoever it is you have sinned against. But, do remember God will bring to light the hidden things.

You will know that in a wedding service we use that very solemn expression: ‘The day in which the secrets of all hearts will be revealed.’ What a day that will be! The Lord Jesus Christ has come to deliver His people in this sense: He passed through death, not because He was a sinner – no, the very reverse. He took up a life. In that life that He took up there was no service to Satan, no evil eye, no deceitful ear and no lying tongue. His hands, His feet and His whole Person was given to the service of His dear Father, from His first breath to His last breath. So, in that sense, there was no decree concerning Him as a Person that He must die, because He had not sinned. He had no original sin. He had no sin in His person or in His life. In that respect, the sentence of death would not have passed on Him, except, bless His dear holy name: He came as the Substitute for sinners. He came for a number that no man can number, spoken of in our text as His ‘children,’ or earlier in the chapter, as ‘many sons.’ For their sake, He took up a life. And, that life that no one could take from Him, He willingly, lovingly and faithfully; with a cost that no man can ever measure, laid down.

“How willing was Jesus to die, 

That we fellow-sinners might live! 

The life they could not take away, 

How ready was Jesus to give!”

J. Swain

Why did He do that? Because, dear friends, He came to conquer death. In a moment we will see how He delivered His people from eternal death. But, here is the comfort for the believer, for those who are brought to trust in a precious Christ; the grave is no longer a terror. The hour and the moment of standing at the judgment seat is no terror, nor in the outcome of it. There are still many fears, but because He stands as the Surety and has given an account for His dear people, their sins have been imputed to Him. He has borne them away at Calvary. He has paid the price; the day of judgment for the Church was Calvary. There vengeance had its due. There justice demanded and received of the Saviour the payment due for the sins of all His dear people. So, when they stand before the throne, the white throne of divine justice; they are accounted pure, holy and perfect. How? They are “accepted in the Beloved.” He has given an account for them. He spreads His wounded hands on their behalf. He stands in their stead. ‘This is one of the children Thou dost give to Me to suffer, bleed and die for. I present him to Thee,’ says the dear Saviour to His Father, ‘as one of My redeemed; a blood-bought child.’ Oh, the wonder of it! Not a spot! “Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee.” Where is all the guilt gone? It is washed away in the blood of the Lamb. What a wonderful thing it is for a believer! Death, in that respect, is conquered.

“Now, the grave’s a downy bed, 

Embroidered round with blood.”

J. Hart

The third death, that He came to save His people from; is that eternal death. An eternal dying! The Word of God describes it in a very awesome way: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” A very solemn thing that is, isn’t it? As Job tells us, when the body dies it is eaten of worms, and those worms eventually die. That is the end of them, as well. But friends, for the lost soul, there is no end to the punishment. And the reason for that is because the sufferings of a lost eternity are not atoning sufferings. There is no such place as purgatory. Do remember that! All the sufferings of a lost eternity will not put away one sin, because they are not holy sufferings. But the sufferings of Christ were holy sufferings. There were holy tears, holy groans and holy sighs. It was a holy laying down of His life. That is why it was acceptable. That is why God the Father accepted Him on behalf of His dear people. The offering of the body and soul of the dear Redeemer to His dear Father was a holy offering on behalf of His Church. That is why there is no second death. There is no eternal death for those who die in Christ. And the reason for that is because the death they deserve to die has been already endured by the dear Saviour on their behalf on Calvary’s cross. He has drained the cup of wrath. He has emptied it of any curse and any condemnation. Now His dear people have a cup of blessing to drink to all eternity. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,” is their song, unweariedly sung throughout those endless ages. He came to deliver His people from the power of death, the death of unregeneracy, the death of the grave and the death of a lost eternity. And, the day is coming when they will bless His holy name for it throughout all eternity. Let me put it as the hymn writer did:

“My flesh shall slumber in the ground,

Till the last trumpet’s joyful sound;

Then burst the chains with sweet surprise, 

And in my Saviour’s image rise.”

I. Watts

Yes, the whole end of the matter will be a new body. Incorruptible, undefiled and holy, like the body of the Saviour, and there to dwell in all eternity.

“Redeemed, with Jesus’ blood redeemed, 

His beauties called to trace,

No angel can be more esteemed

Than sinners saved by grace.”

W. Gadsby

I will make one other comment. The souls who are in Christ; who die in Christ, are not unconscious. They are very blessedly conscious. They are bowing before the throne, even this morning hour. They are casting their crowns before Him. They are enjoying the eternal Sabbath and the eternal communion and fellowship that is therein. They see Christ face to face, they behold the King in His beauty, they see the glory of the Lamb, they see the name of Christ engraved, as it were, on this glorious Person whom they now adore. They see the hands that were wounded for them, and the feet and the wounded side. They see that dear head now crowned with glory that was once crowned with thorns. Oh, what a blessed state the redeemed enter into!

Yet, our text says: “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Why is this? Well, if you take those three deaths that I have hinted at, you will see the reason why many of God’s dear people live with this bondage and this fear which we trust and believe they will indeed be delivered from that they may view a precious Christ. Certainly, when they die they are finally delivered from all those fears and doubts which may have beset them while they were here below. See if you can find these three marks of grace in your hearts this Sabbath morning. First of all, do you ever fear about what you are by nature, that old nature? Is it a trouble to you? One of the greatest fears that God’s people have is that that their old nature, with its corruption, its unbelief, its infidelity, its worldliness, its carnality and its pride should be the end of them. They often fear it will overcome them and they will make shipwreck of faith. God’s people are greatly exercised about that. They know enough about themselves to say, like the Apostle Paul: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” There are some precious moments when they are in sweet assurance and when they know it is well. Sin is, at it were, beneath their feet and the devil is silent. But there are many other times when it is not so; when God hides his face and they cannot see their signs. And the more you know about yourself and what you are by nature, you cry with the hymnwriter:

“Can ever God dwell here?”

J. Hart

‘Is it possible that such a one as I could be a child of God, plagued with this old nature?’ “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” I say it very kindly this morning, but if you have never feared about what you are by nature, I have to put a question mark over your religion. If your old nature is not an exercise to you, where are you? What are you? “What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.” The old and the new: what you were born with and what grace has made you. They are at war. There is no compromise. There is no treaty, as it were, to be drawn up between them to try and cover over the cracks. They are diametrically opposed to each other. One is unbelieving, the other is believing. One is proud, the other is humble. One is pure, the other is insincere. One loves this world, the other hates this world. One hates Christ, the other loves Christ. Those two armies are in the child of God while he is here below.

So, that is why there are often so many fears that exercise a child of God in the journey. May it be an encouragement to one of you this morning who thinks that you should not be feeling like that. It is not comfortable, that I grant! Yes, we should seek full assurance – don’t mistake me. We should be looking unto Jesus who has put all these things under His dear feet. He has conquered them at Calvary. And, when He does reveal His dear self, you prove that conquering grace in your heart. On the other hand, don’t write bitter things against yourselves: ‘I cannot be a child of God feeling like this.’ It is one of the marks of a child of God! “What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.” This is one of the fears that God’s people have. What havoc the devil can make of their old nature! How quickly the world within can link up with the world without! Before we know where we are, we are taken along with it, and, like poor Peter, end up in Satan’s sieve, or with David in the horrible pit and miry clay. What a strange path! What a paradox the way of faith is! But, here it is: the dear Lord Jesus has come to deliver His dear people from the power of this death.

Secondly, God’s people do fear death itself. Some people speak very glibly about death. Of course, in the day in which we live there is this thing called euthanasia, which is often being talked about. You can end your life to avoid the suffering of the last days. But there is no thought what lies beyond! Friends, euthanasia is not Scriptural in any sense whatsoever. I say it carefully and kindly, but we are to give all the care we can to a dying person – yes. But, to hasten their end – no! But the point I want to make is this. God’s people do have fears. Why? You say, ‘If their eye is fixed on Christ, they should not fear.’ Well, that is true. And when faith is in living exercise, we can, as it were, conquer even death in our feelings. But think about it: all we have ever known is in this body. Beyond the grave is an unknown path. We are stepping into the unknown; none of us have ever been there before. It is natural to us to cling to what we know. But, blessed be God, there is One we do know! There is so much we know not beyond the grave: heaven, its glories and the occupation of those dear saints within. Yes, this is only hinted at. But friends, do we know what the good hymn writer said?

“Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.”

E. H. Bickersteth

Friends if you know a precious Christ; if you have known His power, if you have known the preciousness of His blood, if you have known the sweet voice of the Good Shepherd, if you have known His presence, if you have known a little of His love and if you have fed at His table in the Gospel sense, then you have known Him and you are not stepping into the unknown, in that respect. You are going to meet One whom you know. True, you wish you knew Him more. Paul did. “That I may know Him,” he says. Those of us who humbly hope we know a little of Him do wish we knew Him more. But, it won’t be an unknown Saviour you meet. It is One with whom you have had communion and fellowship. One who called you by His grace, One who brought you out of darkness into light, from death to life, One who brought you along through this vale of tears, who watched over you while you were wrestling hard with sins, doubts, and fears, and brought you safely home. He will welcome you. He who has welcomed you to the throne of grace will welcome you at the judgment seat as well. Oh, my dear friends! Why those fears?

“Why those fears? behold, ’tis Jesus 

Holds the helm, and guides the ship.”

T. Kelly

And, He can guide you to and through death itself, blessed be His dear, holy name. Listen to what David says. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” But, often the devil has his last fling when saints come toward their end. I have seen it many times in some very God-fearing people; those who come near their end and are in great conflict of soul, the devil having his last fling. It is his last fling, for he cannot touch them beyond the grave. He cannot touch them once their soul is safe in the arms of Jesus – no! Blessed be God, there is no temptation there, no darkness there and no death there. It is life; eternal life there.

But, God’s people do have those fears, don’t they? And the Lord knows it. That is why He says, listen; “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself” – that is heaven – “Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” What a precious prospect that is! “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” – even in that last hour and article of death that we must face. God’s people do fear a lost eternity. We know very little about heaven, and we know very little about hell, but God’s people know enough about it to know that there is such a place and such an end for the unbeliever. They know enough about their wretched heart to know that God would be perfectly just, if they are out of Christ, to send them to that eternal destiny. They sometimes sing, tremblingly:

“And if my soul were sent to hell, 

Thy righteous law approves it well.”

Oh, how they fear, even in that respect! Yet, listen to perhaps the most well- known word in John’s Gospel. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Dear friends, what a prospect there is here!

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” What wonderful liberty the redeemed must enjoy within the veil! It is like being loosed from a prison, isn’t it? In one of the later Psalms, David says, “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name.” Ultimately, I think you will say: ‘Lord, bring me out of the prison of this body which I am in; this prison which has my old nature which is such an affliction to me. The devil is so busy and the world so active.’ “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name.” The freedom to believe, love and obey in glory – we can only begin to hint at it.

But, on this side of the grave, there are moments, precious moments, when God’s people, as it were, have death beneath them. They feel the unregenerate man, the grave and eternal death have all been dealt with by their Saviour. He has conquered death through dying. That is why, dear friends, He did not go to heaven like Enoch did. Enoch was translated. He was taken from this earth without dying. God sovereignly did that as a forerunner of those who will be on the earth when our Lord returns again. That generation who are in Christ will be caught up together with His redeemed “to meet the Lord in the air.” They will be changed as Enoch was, and like Elijah was, to be forever with the Lord. But, blessed be God, our Saviour went through death to destroy it.

In just one sense, the Lord Jesus Christ was like Samson, although Samson, at times, was a most erratic character. Had he been on Chippenham’s Church roll, I don’t know what we would have done with him! He was a godly man when he was in the Spirit. When he was in the Spirit he was a mighty man. One of the things he did do is very typical of our text. He told them to bind him with cords so strong that it was not possible for a man, naturally, to burst them. So they tied his hands and feet and said: “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.” Samson arose and burst them straight away with the strength God gave him. In this one sense, dear friends, Samson is like our dear Saviour. The beloved Saviour permitted Himself to be bound by the cords of death on behalf of His dear people that He burst the bands of death and conquered the grave.

So, you go to the tomb on that resurrection morning and you gaze within. The stone is rolled away – typical of the law satisfied. Look within, dear friends. The Saviour did lay there. Two angels sat, “the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.” “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” He is no longer there. He has conquered death. He has conquered the grave. And, as surely as He has gone to glory in that same body in which He suffered, bled and died, so must every member of his mystical body be there with Him. As one good man said,

“But this I do find, we two are so joined, 

He’ll not live in glory and leave me behind.”

Friends, you will only live to see it in that way if He has conquered those three deaths for you. Give Him no rest until He says to you: “Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Amen.

Oh, blessed, blessed union, communion and fellowship!

“That will be glory, be glory for me

When by His grace I His beauties shall see.”