Deep Time on the Image of God (Lent 40, 2023)

At His death, where did Jesus’ Very Image of God go? He wasn’t extinguished…with no spirit, no soul bearing the Image of God, a dead body only.  If He wasn’t extinguished, what happened at His death?  It’s “deep time” on the Image of God.

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In the past, when the ancients in faith died, they had no spirit of life left, just a dead body.  Their souls (Image-bearing identity) went to the place Jesus refers to as Abraham’s side.  Any ancients without faith died and were buried.  They went to Hades in torment (with their Image-bearing identity).  According to Jesus, Luke 16:22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.  23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side”.

Souls—even with identity–don’t have the bodies they left behind.  In the past, a human body was in the ground, the human’s Image-bearing soul was at Abraham’s side for those of faith, but the spirit was gone.  No life.  The curse of death persisted as the wages of sin.  Dust to dust.  No spirit of life.

In the moment of His death, Jesus, I’d argue, was different for a multitude of reasons.  “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” (Luke 23:46).

He gave up His fully human spirit life and died a fully human death.  But He was also fully God.  His Spirit-life was never extinguished by a curse of death.  Unlike us, death had no hold on Him.  Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me” and this fulfilled Scripture from Isaiah, according to Luke 4:16-21.

His human body was dead enough to be in a tomb on Holy Saturday.  But His Spirit-life and Very Image soul went straight to Abraham’s side…the place Jesus called “paradise” to the thief next to Him at Crucifixion.  Here’s the distinction: Jesus showed up at Abraham’s side with His Spirit-life in addition to His Very Image of God soul.  His Spirit-life made all the difference.  The only thing Jesus left behind was His earthly body which would be resurrected.

Focus for Lent: Those ancients of faith who had been imprisoned by the curse of death (no life), were souls without life until Jesus set them free by His earthly death and Spirit-life.  His Spirit-life gave them eternal life and once He was resurrected, He’d be able to give them bodily resurrection in due time.  They will rise first when He returns according to the Apostle Paul (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Questions for even deeper thought:

Jesus, we’re told, also made proclamation to the disobedient imprisoned spirits, the distress for them so great it’s something people sometimes refer to as the Harrowing of Hell. 

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.   19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits– 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”

As long as all humanity was imprisoned (obedient at Abraham’s side/bosom and disobedient in Hades), the disobedient could still taunt.  Prison was, after all, prison.  And death came to all. It was prison for everyone, “ha-ha” was the taunt of the disobedient.

But then here comes Jesus with His Spirit-life, able to give life to all.  He even talked about it in a sense,

John 6:60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you– they are full of the Spirit and life. (Jn. 6:60-63 NIV)

Suddenly the disobedient aren’t laughing anymore.  Abraham’s side gets the spirit-life, freedom, and eternal life.  Ah, but the souls who are disobedient will also have eternity, but they will remain imprisoned in hell.  God will not be mocked, and Jesus silences laughter of the willfully ignorant mockers.

In what way was mortality for Image-bearers made possible by sin, but eternity was made possible by Jesus’ resurrection?

One final point of depth in Scripture (and truly I don’t have all the answers, but I read God’s Word and these things make sense to me).  Matthew tells us of a weird scene from the Crucifixion and beyond.  It’s almost as if he breaks the timeline into happening now, happening spiritually, and will happen someday when Jesus returns.

Matthew 27:50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

No other gospel writer mentions this event, but keep in mind that Matthew was written to the Jews for the purpose of displaying Jesus as Messiah.

So, on this Holy Saturday, to recap as we fully appreciate Jesus as the Very Image of God in advance of the empty tomb with His body resurrected, setting the launch for resurrection of all the faithful…

Jesus is God’s Very Image of Perfect Love, Perfect Holiness, Perfect Unity, Perfect Knowledge, Perfect Sacrifice, Perfect Mercy, Perfect Relationship, Perfect Creativity, Perfect Submission, Perfect Rulership, Perfect Service, Perfect Patience, Perfect Endurance, Perfect Completion, Perfect Ethics, Perfect Mindset, Perfect Justice, Perfect Goodness, Perfect Faithfulness, Perfect Peace, Perfect Gentleness, and Perfect Self-control.  These, among others, encircle the Image of God in us and form His fingerprint upon human life, broken now, but born again to perfection at His Return.

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This concludes the Lenten Devotional Series for 2023. Thank you for coming with me on this journey. Wishing you all a blessed Easter with full confidence that He is Risen, He is Risen indeed.