Easter Sunday,
April 5, 2026
Luke 11:21-22 21“When
a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22But when someone stronger attacks
him and defeats him, he takes away that man’s full armor, in which he had
trusted, and divides up his plunder.” (EHV)
1 Peter 3:18-19 Christ
also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to
bring you to God. He was put to death in
flesh but was made alive in spirit, 19in which he also went and made
an announcement to the spirits in prison. (EHV)
God’s
Strong-Man takes possession of His people.
Dear beloved of the living Lord,
Jesus descended into hell. That’s a shocking way to begin Easter
morning, isn’t it? Many people guess
that Jesus descended into hell to suffer after He died on the cross that first
Good Friday. However, it was while He
was on the cross that Jesus suffered the awful torment of hell when His Father
separated Himself from Jesus. That
separation from God is truly the worst punishment of hell, and Jesus
experienced that brutal isolation so that you and I won’t ever have to be
without God’s love. So, why do we
confess that Jesus descended into hell early on Easter morning?
Our
two texts this morning are among several that speak about Jesus’ course of
action in His resurrection from the dead.
At some point Easter morning, before He revealed Himself alive and risen
from the grave, Jesus descended into hell.
Peter reported that Jesus “was made alive in spirit, in which he also
went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison.” What is it that Jesus needed to
announce? For that answer, we return to
Jesus’ mysterious prophecy reported in Luke’s Gospel.
One
time, when Jesus had cast out a demon, His enemies said, “He drives out
demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” (Luke 11:15) In retrospect, their accusation was serious
blasphemy, but Jesus replied to their lie by foretelling how His victory over
Satan and death would conclude. Jesus
responded to their accusation with this parable: “When a strong man, fully
armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks him and
defeats him, he takes away that man’s full armor, in which he had trusted, and
divides up his plunder.”
Throughout
most of history, the devil seemed to be the strong man in the world. With treacherous lies, he deceived Adam and
Eve into abandoning holiness for the knowledge of evil. Ever after, Satan’s temptations and lies kept
mankind separated from God. The
covetousness, jealousy, and hatred the devil induces causes unlimited suffering
and sorrow in the world. Still today, we
see vast numbers of people deceived into believing that wealth can be stolen
for society’s welfare. The devil still
pits husbands and wives against each other, and children against their
parents. Nations are continually caught
up in power struggles and the same can be said about politicians in almost
every place, and no matter how much wealth or power people possess, they always
seem to need a little more.
You
and I were not spared of this wickedness.
We, too, have been selfish, lustful, covetous, and sometimes deceitful. We too have often been misled by feelings
rather than hold to God’s Word with unwavering confidence. We too were caught in the slavery to sin and
death. Yet, there is One who was always
able to resist those weakness and faults.
Jesus was the only perfect Man ever to live, and the world turned
against that humble, self-sacrificing soul.
Of
course, God the Father knew that would happen.
Jesus knew it too. Indeed, that
is why Jesus entered our world, so that even in the midst of this world’s
soul-destroying corruption, He could live that perfectly holy life necessary to
satisfy the law. Then, having dwelled
here in perfect God-pleasing holiness, Jesus gave His life into death to
satisfy the law’s demand for justice.
Through all of this, the devil schemed and tempted and persuaded people
just as God knew that liar would.
For
a being who wanted to wrest God’s kingdom from Him, the devil really isn’t that
smart. Even after God gave the world
clear prophetic messages of all He planned for His Son, the devil never caught
on that God was weaving the deceiver’s demise.
Thus, in the end, Satan probably did gloat in foolish glee when God’s
Son was nailed to the cursed tree. Yet,
as the Gospel so clearly teaches, the devil wasn’t winning. Rather, through the death of His Son, God was
taking back the wealth of the world by paying the ransom to set His people free.
Now,
ordinarily, we think of a ransom being paid to the kidnapper. But remember what the prophet Nahum reported,
“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God.” (Nahum 1:2) St. Paul later wrote, “Our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Even more so for Jesus; Jesus didn’t enter our world to do battle with
Roman authority or even those Jewish leaders who so despised God’s Son. Instead, Jesus came to battle our old evil
foe, and the payment Jesus made didn’t go into the devil’s treasury. Instead, Jesus paid with His blood and His
life to satisfy the justice His Father demanded for our sins. Satan gets nothing but eternal loss.
Though
the devil speaks only lies, Jesus operates solely with perfect truth. While Satan sought the power of God, Jesus
laid aside His glory and “emptied himself by taking the nature of a
servant. When he was born in human
likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7-8)
Jesus told the crowds that followed Him, “This is why the Father
loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on
my own. I have the authority to lay it
down, and I have the authority to take it up again.” (John 10:17-18)
It
is in His humility and sacrifice that Jesus disarmed our kidnapper. Caught completely unaware (or perhaps not),
the devil had no ability or strength to defeat Jesus. There was no accusation of sin that would
apply to Jesus. There was no desire or
distrust that the devil could chip away at to deceive Jesus into turning
against His Father’s will. Therefore,
holy and righteous and with God’s full stamp of approval, Jesus took the fight
to the devil and crushed that serpent’s head.
So,
why did Jesus descend to hell alive that Easter morning? Restored to life, Jesus descended into hell to
announce His victory over Satan with authority and power so that the devil has
no more hold over any of God’s people.
The devil and his wicked horde will never again be able to accuse God’s
children of sin. In his great triumph
hymn, Martin Luther proclaimed, “This world’s prince may still, scowl fierce as
he will, he can harm us none, he’s judged; the deed is done; one little word
can fell him.” When Jesus sent out the
seventy-two disciples proclaiming His Gospel message of forgiveness and
salvation through faith in Christ, they returned rejoicing for the power of His
Word, and Jesus told them, “I was watching Satan fall like
lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)
Through
treachery and deception, the serpent had turned God’s people against their
Creator. Enslaved by the lies and
temptations, people the world over had no resistance to the devil’s evil. But now, a stronger Man has taken on the
kidnapper and thrown off the chains that kept us bound in the dark cave of the
sinful nature. Jesus told His disciples,
“I am the Light of the World. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John
8:12)
As
the Lord led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, He rescued His people from the
wicked horde by leading them to safety through the waters of the sea. This too is a picture of how Jesus has
rescued us through the waters of Baptism.
With the water and the Word of our Lord in Baptism, we are led cleansed
and free into the kingdom of peace and joy that is God’s everlasting
kingdom.
Is
there still trouble in our lives and temptations around us? Certainly.
For as long as this world lasts, those things will be troubling mankind
because of the curse of sin. However,
because God’s Strong-Man takes possession of His people, we are never in this battle alone. Our Champion continues to fight for us with
the power of His Word and His intercession with our Father in heaven. No more can the devil accuse us before
God. Nor do we ever have to fight that
liar alone, for Jesus promises “Surely I am with you always until the end of
the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Then
through His psalmist, our Redeemer assures us, “If you make the Most High
your shelter, evil will not overtake you.
Disaster will not come near your tent.
Because he will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard
you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:9-11)
Dear friends, whenever you
confess your faith in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, or whenever you might
feel weak or worried, remember that through His life, death, descent into hell,
and resurrection from the grave, Jesus, God’s Strong-Man, took possession of
His people. Amen.
The peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment