The closeness of Jesus

Everything in the Christian life revolves around proximity to Jesus Christ. Sunday past I was reflecting on Philippians 4:4-7, and how Paul’s repeated reason is the closeness of the Lord.

V4 – Rejoice in the Lord – the Christian’s delight reaches its highest when the Lordship of Christ is clearly seen in relation to whatever brings us joy. A beautiful landscape might bring someone joy, but add Christ to that – the creator and sustainer of the universe, and that joy becomes enhanced, an act of worship as we see creation itself pouring out glory to our king.

V5 – Let your reasonableness be known to everyone (for the Lord is at hand) – how we live as we wait for the glorious appearing of Jesus is driven by the proximity of Christ. Hold him at arm’s length, and the effects of sanctification will be minimal. Paul’s desire was that believers reflect the character of Jesus, and that comes about through the Spirit of Jesus at work within us.

V6 – Don’t be anxious, pray – Paul’s language here expresses our approach to a sovereign of unimaginable power. But the way we approach that power is through Jesus Christ, in whom we find our only right of access to the thrown of Abba.

V7 – You will be guarded in Christ Jesus – the Bible is replete with references to the way God watches over his people, and generally that protection comes through closeness – e.g. Psalms 17, 36 or 57 – where the place of safety is under the shadow of his wing. The safest place for the Christian is close to Christ; our best armour his righteousness imputed to us, and worn not loosely, but strapped on tight.

I was wondering about two things in Paul’s line of thought in concluding his letter to the Philippians:

1) How does the closeness of Jesus impact on our Christian unity (v2-3)?

2) How does our desire for purity impact on our closeness to Christ (v8-9)?

Did Jesus spend Saturday in Hell?

Ok, this one was bothering me this week – and this is a bizzar first post to my new blog! But who will read this?

What do we mean when we talk about Jesus descending into hell, as in the Apostle’s Creed – “[He] was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead.”

Today I was preaching on Acts 2:31ff, where Peter asserts that David prophesied that Jesus would not be abandoned to Sheol (quoting Ps. 16). The KJV translates this as “Hell”, reinforcing in the minds of many that Jesus, before his resurrection, went into hell, possibly “to preach to the spirits in prison” or possibly to experience the fullness of the Father’s wrath.   This wasn’t the theme of the sermon, by any means, it was a total aside, which might have been best left out.

My argument (that this is a wrong conclusion) is twofold:
Psalm 16 suggests the exaltation of Jesus begins at the moment of his death, meaning he couldn’t be humiliated more, by his soul subsequently entering hell.
Jesus himself, moments before his death, cried out, “It is finished.” Therefore it would be unwise of us to see further vicarious suffering beyond that point.

This is not in any way seeking to undermine the extent of Jesus’ suffering on the cross – I subscribe unreservedly to the Reformed doctrine of penal substitution, that Christ suffered in our place sufficient to satisfy divine justice! But I do find it difficult to accept that his soul at death went anywhere other than to be with the Father.

My main point here was this: This is surely the first fruits of the experience of all believers at death! I was thinking that the resurrection and assention of Jesus are pretty much squashed together in Reformed thought, both are part of his exaltation, which believers share in. So Jesus experience at death must be a guide for what happens to us – he goes to be with the Father, we go to be with him and the Father – entering what Boston calls the intermediate state.

What bothered me with this is that Psalm 16 suggests Jesus’ body didn’t decay – but ours do.

Anyway, I was happy to read wiser than me making the same point.