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Welcome to the Gospel Focused Family Moment. I'm your host, Eric Novak. Each week we pause as a family to remember what matters most, the good news of Jesus. This podcast is brought to you by gospelfocused.com.
For our opening liturgy today, I'll be your leader and ask a question, and then you follow along and repeat with your family. Christian family, what do we believe? We believe in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who gives us life and makes us one.
Our scripture reading for today comes from Luke 24, verses 1 through 6. "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'" This is the word of the Lord.
Hello listeners, welcome to October. It's hard to believe that summer is over and we're making our way into fall, but we're here, and we're still studying the Apostles' Creed together. Do you remember what a creed is? As I've said before, a creed is basically a list of things that people believe. That's what the word means: Credo, or "I believe." Let's start by reading the Apostles' Creed again, and then we'll unpack our line:
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Last week we talked about how Jesus died, and we're still talking about that. And we're also talking about the amazing twist in the story of the gospel. So our line is: "he descended to the dead; on the third day he rose again." Let's get into it.
Have you ever had blackout curtains in your room? You know, the kind that do a really good job of making it dark? Maybe your parents have some in their room that make it really dark so everyone can get a good night's sleep. As good as those curtains are, I'm sure that when the sun hits them at its highest point, you can probably see its glow around the edges. And when you pull back the curtains, the light just bursts in, in a glorious way. That's what this episode is in the story of Jesus as we study the Apostles' Creed together. It's the darkest night, and then the sun rising.
Out of the Apostles' Creed, there are two lines that are a little confusing. One of those is that Jesus descended to the dead. The other is the "holy catholic Church," which just means God's global church. But here people have gotten kind of hung up, because they're worried that descending to the dead means that Jesus was in hell, or in a place of death. But I think it's important to remember the context of Scripture and what Jesus said himself.
First, when Jesus was dying, he told the man on the cross next to him, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Second, just as he died, he said, "It is finished," meaning that God accomplished what he intended to accomplish through the death of Jesus. So when we say "he descended to the dead," we pretty much mean exactly that. Jesus physically died and was buried. He didn't faint, he didn't appear dead. He was really dead. And if that's where we were left, it would be really bad news. But like I said, the curtains are pulled back for us, and we see an amazing miracle take place.
There's a beautiful story for children and adults called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's part of The Chronicles of Narnia, written by the Christian author C.S. Lewis, and I hope you've read this book, or your parents have read it to you. It's such a good story. Lewis wrote what he thought might have happened if Jesus had come to a different world as a lion named Aslan. Here's that part. It's the same moment of when Jesus died and was resurrected, and I'd like to read it to you. It's very special to me:
At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise…. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.
“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”
“Yes!” said a great voice from behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
“Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children… “But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”
Wow. I have chills just reading that. C.S. Lewis loved Jesus, and he was so inspired when he wrote that work. It's a blessing that we get to read authors like that.
The same thing happened to Jesus. Death worked backward. But more than that, something even more amazing was happening. It was like a return to the Garden of Eden, where there was no death. And actually, it was even better than Eden. In the garden, Adam could still sin and still die, but the risen Jesus will never die again. You see, miracles that go against the laws of nature in this world are not just supernatural. They're actually a powerful return to what God intended all along.
The thing that is truly broken in our world is death itself, and Jesus is undoing it. What's right is that Jesus is restored as our risen Savior. And here's the best news for you and your family: because Jesus rose, everyone who trusts Him will rise too. His empty tomb is the promise of ours. Death is working backward, and one day God will make all things new.
Our memory verse for this week comes from Matthew 28:6: "He is not here, for he has risen, as he said." Let's pray together. Father, Son, and Spirit, we thank you for your Word made flesh, Jesus. Thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus, but also for the undoing of death, the reversal of all things wrong, made right through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Thank you for your faithful servant C.S. Lewis, and for the amazing imagination you give us to create works that praise and magnify you. In the holy name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Thanks for joining us for this week's Gospel Focused Family Moment. I'm your host, Eric Novak. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and your hearts focused on the gospel. Go as a family in the peace of your Savior and closest friend, Jesus Christ. See you next week.
Thank you for being part of what we do at gospelfocused.com. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend. Every person we reach brings us closer to our goal of sharing the gospel with every family around the world, by the grace of Jesus.
