Him, being delivered, talking about Christ, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
So Peter's telling the Jews, you killed Jesus.
And he's saying, you have wicked hands, and you crucified him, and he was slain.
We have that picture in Revelation, the lamb that was slain.
Verse 24, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.
So did Christ suffer the pains of death?
Absolutely.
You can't even argue.
It just says he was loosed from it, okay.
But here's the thing, at what point was he loosed from it?
It says very clearly in verse number 24, being raised up.
That means the resurrection.
Now again, when Christ was dying on the cross, that was painful.
I'm not going to downplay it.
I'm sure it was the most excruciating pain imaginable.
Not only did he have all the physical pain, he had the weight and the emotional suffering
of bearing the burden of the weight of all of our sins.
The Bible says he'd bear our sins in his own body on the tree.
I believe that the suffering of bearing our sin was worse than the physical pain.
I believe the shame was worse than the physical pain.
And all of that was there.
All of that was present.
The fact that God the Father looked at his own son as being sin.
He became sin.
I mean that's, you know, he who knew no sin became sin for us as the Bible describes it.
That's got to be some of the worst aspects of it.
But I'll say this, none of that, not even an ounce of it was the pains of death.
Because Christ was alive at that point in time.
But let me tell you what the pains of death are, it's called hell.
That's what the pains of death.
So when he was loosed from the pains of death, that was what hell.
That's where he was at.
And, you know, a lot of those same aspects still apply.
Because he was cast out of the Father's sight.
He wasn't in the Holy Temple.
He had become sin.
Obviously there was a lot of emotional anguish there.
Who knows if you can even tell time at that point when you're in just constant
tor- I mean, anytime you've gone through something really painful, sometimes time
slows down real quick.
I mean, when you're sick, a day feels like a week.
And if you're sick for a couple days, it feels like a year.
You know?
It's just like, oh man, sometimes it just is awful.
I mean, going through that kind of pain, time's got to slow down what it feels like.
I don't want to suffer for five seconds, that kind of pain.
Let alone three days and three nights.
But he was loosed.
Why?
Because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
Look, it's not possible for the creator of heaven and earth, the Son of God, to just
be in hell for all of eternity.
That's not possible.
Verse 25, for David, concerning him, I first saw the Lord always before my face, for he's
on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest
in hope because that will not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy
one to see corruption.
Now, why is it important that his body didn't see corruption?
It's because when he came back to life, he showed- think about Thomas.
Thomas said he was not going to believe unless he could stick his finger through the print
of the nails in his hands.
Now, what would it make sense if the Jehovah's Witness or whatever, he had a loner body that
didn't have holes in his hand, and he's like, I'm Jesus.
You know, you'd be like, no you're not.
Verse 31, he's saying this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul
was not left in hell, neither is flesh to see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up wherever we are witnesses.
Now go to Revelation chapter 1, and I know I'm covering a lot of this that I've covered
before, but I think it's important to just get it deep into our mind and our heart and
our soul.
And when you're challenged, maybe having heard this so many times, you could actually show
somebody.
You know, if you have a family member, a friend, or a cousin, or you're out soul winning, you'll
be like, oh, I remember those verses now, because Pastor Shelley preaches it every week,
you know?
No, I'm just kidding.
He showed it to me so many times, I haven't memorized.
Revelation chapter 1, look at verse 18, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold
I am alive forevermore, amen and have the keys of hell and of death.
Obviously Christ at some point had to die, otherwise the gospel didn't really happen.
He really died, which really means his soul was separated from his body, and in order
to have the state of being as being declared dead, you have to go to hell.
That's why Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believest thou this?