DID JESUS DIE SPIRITUALLY ?
Exposing the JDS Heresy
POINT 9
REDEMPTION IN HELL, OR ON THE CROSS?
Once more it is evident that the JDS teaching is at variance with the teaching of Scripture, inasmuch as the words of Jesus from the cross are contradicted by those who contend that Jesus died spiritually. Several of His utterances at Calvary would have to be ignored or reinterpreted in order to accept the JDS Doctrine.
In the first place, the promise of Jesus to the repentant thief when He said; "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise,: is contradicted by the JDS supporters who insist that Jesus went to Hell for three days, not to heaven. How they manipulate His words will be noted later.
Secondly, when Jesus declared as He died, "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit," the clear implication is that His spirit went to the Father in heaven, while His body was in the sepulcher. The JDS teaching contradicts this, however, and asserts that when Jesus died He gave His spirit into the hands of Satan who became His master, and that Jesus was united in His spirit with the Adversary!
If the words of Jesus cannot be relied upon to mean what they clearly say, then why do the JDS supporters believe that they can rely on anything that He said, such as His promise of eternal life in John 3:16, the resurrection from the dead in John 11:25, or the promise of His return in John 14:1-3? The JDS efforts to manipulate and change the meaning of the utterances of Jesus from the cross in an attempt to make them conform to their erroneous doctrine are plainly self-defeating.
Thirdly, we are informed by these teachers that when Jesus said, while on the cross, "It is finished," He did not mean that He had finished the work of redemption at Calvary; on the contrary, this work was only the beginning. Jesus redeemed sinners in Hell, where as "sin" He suffered as their substitute, after which He was born again.
The JDS Doctrine asserts that when He said, "It is finished," this does not mean what most Christians think that it did; Jesus was merely referring to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant as an Israelite. When the veil of the Temple was rent at His death, this was the "rending" of this covenant; Jesus had fulfilled the covenant and was the last sacrifice under the Old Covenant.
However, the Scriptures do not support such an interpretation. Jesus had just fulfilled, not the Abrahamic Covenant, but the Mosaic Covenant of the law by His sacrificial death as the Lamb of God. The Law of Sacrifice, which provided an atonement for sin, had been given to Moses at Mount Sinai, not to Abraham.
This is another instance in which the JDS teachers reveal their insufficient knowledge concerning the Old Testament, inasmuch as they confuse the Covenant made to Abraham in Genesis 12-17 with the Covenant of the Law given to Moses centuries later as recorded in the book of Exodus. They fail to distinguish properly between these two different and separate covenants.
One author, who is the source of many of the JDS errors, states that the Abrahamic Covenant was what constituted Israel as a nation, and gave to the nation its Law, sacrifices, blood atonement, priesthood, temple, and the Ten Commandments! Nothing could be farther removed from the facts than this contention.
The Covenant given to Abraham, of which circumcision was the outward sign, concerned God's promises of blessings. It most definitely was NOT a covenant of Law and Sacrifice, including the priesthood, temple, and Ten Commandments. God's covenant made to Abraham was three-fold.
(1) Abraham's descendants were to become a great
nation; however, Israel's national life began centuries later
under Moses with the revelation of the Law at Mount Sinai (Exodus
19-24).
God made Israel a nation under Moses, not in Abraham's
time (Exodus 19:6), and entered into a Covenant of Law with Israel
at this time (Exodus 24:1-8). Although the promises made to
Abraham included the prediction that a great nation would descend
from him, its actual fulfillment came about under the Mosaic
Covenant.
(2) God promised that the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham (the Scriptures and the Messiah would come through Israel).
(3) The land of Palestine would be given to Abraham and his seed forever. The Abrahamic Covenant was one of promises of blessings to Abraham, his descendants, and to the world; it was not a covenant concerned with the Law and sacrifices.
The Old Covenant of the Law and Sacrifice, which was given to Moses and Israel at Sinai, was the Covenant which was fulfilled and done away with at Calvary by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the New Testament clearly shows (Matthew 5:17-19; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 8-10). The cross did not signify the fulfillment and demise of the Abrahamic Covenant; that Covenant was not based upon the Law and sacrifices, but concerned the covenant promises of blessing.
In fact, those promises in the Abrahamic Covenant which have particular reference to Israel as a nation are still in effect! Some are just now in the process of their complete and final fulfillment, while others are yet to be fulfilled.
Because of Israel's sins and rejection of the Messiah, the final and complete fulfillment of these promises was postponed when God temporarily set Israel aside as a nation until the latter days. However, according to Scripture, the final fulfillment of these promises is assured on the basis of the covenant promises God made to their fathers -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Notice that this is precisely what is stated to be the fact in the New Testament:
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes [Abraham, Isaac, Jacob]. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 11:26-29).
Clearly, the Abrahamic Covenant was not done away with at Calvary as the JDS Doctrine alleges. The covenant promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12-17 that the Promised Land was given to him and his descendants forever is just now in the process of its final and complete fulfillment, which began with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. How, then could the Abrahamic Covenant (confused by the JDS teachers with the Mosaic Covenant) have been fulfilled at the cross? The future fulfillment of the covenant promises regarding the nation's salvation and restoration to the Promised Land is reiterated again and again in Scripture. Israel constitutes a people eternally bound to God by the covenant made to Abraham (Romans 11:26-29), and Israel's national restoration and salvation is promised over 140 times in the Scriptures!
A few of these references which may be noted are: Deuteronomy 4:27; Joel 3:1f; Amos 9:1-15; Zechariah 2;4-13; 8:1-23; 12:10-12; Isaiah 2:1-4; Acts 1:6-7 with Romans 11:26-29. Note also Galatians 3:28-29 where even Christians are called "Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise," indicating again that the covenant promises made to Abraham are still in effect (cf. Genesis 12:3).
Furthermore, it needs to be noted that the JDS contentions that Jesus was "the last sacrifice under the Old Covenant," and that "when His blood poured out, it did not atone," are in direct contradiction with the biblical teaching concerning the death of Jesus.
First of all, it should be clear to anyone who has ever read the Bible that the blood of Jesus, in fulfillment of the Old Testament type, most certainly did atone for sin (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14, 20-22; Hebrews 10:19-20; I Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9).
What of the JDS teaching which states that Jesus' death constituted "the last sacrifice under the Old Covenant"?
Although the sacrifice of Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament type of the sin-offering, His death is not to be limited to its relation to the Old Covenant, for this obscures its vital relation to the New Covenant which it introduced. Jesus, as well as the Apostles, clearly stated this fact.
At the last supper Jesus said: "...This cup is the NEW COVENANT in my blood" (Luke 22:20; cf. I Corinthians 11:25; II Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 12:24).
In addition to providing an atonement for all who would thereafter believe on Him, the New Covenant sacrifice of Jesus was also necessary in order to validate the promises of forgiveness which God had given to the Israelites under the Old Covenant of the Law. Read Hebrews 9:14-15, Romans 3:21, 24-25 with Leviticus 4:32-35, where it is shown that while God granted "forgiveness" to the repentant Israelites through the Old Covenant sacrifices, nevertheless, their sins were not actually purged away until atoned for by the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, under the New Covenant in His blood.
The reason the JDS supporters contend that Jesus' death constituted the last sacrifice under the Old Covenant, and that His blood did not atone on the cross, is that such an interpretation is required by them to support their doctrine that the New Covenant of Redemption was made later in Hell, not on the cross!