2014년 4월 13일 주일 영어예배 설교
신명기 21:22-23

(Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

     According to the covenant of God, the people of God who once went out of Egypt formed a country, which was later called Israel. Through this country’s history, God decided to show His attributes and plans, and began His own redemptive history. So they had received the Law. Through the Law, they were identified as God’s chosen people. The Law demonstrated the perfect justice and standard of God. The Law itself was perfect and good. Today’s text is one of the specific stipulations of the Law. This is about a capital penalty, or an execution and something that was done after the death of a criminal. A tree, that is, a cross appears in this treatment. Through today’s text, we are going to be appreciating what the cross means and why Jesus was also hanged on the cross.

In verse 22-23, “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.” In the Israel community, there were several rules and regulations that God in person gave them for the community’s prosperity and stability. Each stipulation of the Law denotes God’s justice against sins and consideration for the people. According to the Law, one who committed a capital crime was to put to death. But that was not the end. As today’s text states, the one who had been executed and dead was hanged on a tree, or a wooden post. The hanging was not a method of execution. The point of hanging a criminal in this way was to expose his capital crime to public shame. The gruesome sight would then serve as a warning to the population of the results of breaking those Laws which was punishable by death. But some more notable phrases are found in the text. That is ‘for a hanged man is cursed by God’ in verse 23. In the same verse, it is directed not to leave the hanged body on a tree overnight and bury it before sunset. This is not only because literally the decay of the body in warm climate would pollute the land but also because symbolically the land belonged to God and would be given to Israel by Him. Hoisting one’s body onto a tree demonstrated that the one was under God’s curse. The body was not cursed by God because it was hanging on a tree, but it was hanging on a tree because it was cursed by God. And the body was not cursed by God simply because it was dead, but it was cursed by God because of the reason for the death. To break the Law of God or live as if the Law did not matter for him was in fact a curse to himself. God never overlooked that kind of breaking of the Law and that kind of attitude. And those means of death was a formal and terminal separation from the community of God’s people.

By the way, we see a strange scene, which today’s text ultimately points to. One man, exactly according to the Jewish tradition and the Law, was put to death, and hanged on a wooden post, or the cross. His name is Jesus. He is the Christ. He is the begotten son of God. He is God. He is the Word itself. But He was crucified like the cursed. The Son was hanged on a cross by God. Why was he hanged on the wooden cross there like a cursed criminal? Why? Because he was cursed. He was cursed by God. How could the only man who ever continued to do everything written in the book of the Law be subjected to its curse? In Galatians the Apostle Paul reveals the answer to this serious question quoting today’s text of Deuteronomy, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”” (Gal. 3:13). The Law that God revealed to the people, in fact, ultimately revealed to all human kinds is a perfect standard. The Law has its own curse. If anyone does not perfectly meet all the requirement of the Law, the curse will take effect on the one. In fact, the Law has driven all human beings under the curse of it. Unfortunately, realistically, there is no one who meets this holy, intact, and perfect requirement of the Law. As descendants of the first man, Adam, and as a human being holding the sinfulness that is genetically deeply rooted in our human nature, nobody is able to satisfy God. Listen to the vivid and realistic demonstrations of the Bible, “There is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46); “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way” (Isa. 53:6); “None is righteous, no, not one” (rom. 3:10); “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Above all, your own guilty conscience ought to be enough to convince you that you are totally depraved and unworthy of God. Everyone is condemned by the curse of the Law.

Therefore, we should have been cursed, forsaken, and disconnected from God. However, we have not been doing that. Instead, Jesus Christ our Lord was cursed, forsaken, and disconnected from the Father. For us. For the hopeless, helpless, terribly sinful men like you and me. The suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross does not mean just an extreme physical pain as some Hollywood movies depict. The suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross does not just mean some psychological torments arisen from the betrayal of the people around him including his disciples. The essence of Jesus’ suffering was the fact that he was being cursed and forsaken by God the Father. It was the separation from the family of God. The biggest event in the world happened there. His separation from the family of God made possible our admission to the family of God because the curse of the broken Law had been removed.

Jesus Christ was cursed there on the wooden tree of cross instead of his people. As Martin Luther expressed, on there he had and bore the sin of Paul, the former blasphemer, persecutor, and assaulter; of Peter, who denied Christ; of David, who was an adulterer and a murderer. And finally, he had and bore all the sin of undeserving men like you and me. So now we live, now we live. When Christ took our sins upon himself he was accursed, not for his own sins, but for ours. The curse we deserved was legally transformed from us to him. The wrath of God that should have been poured into sinners was upon him, Jesus Christ. And we see more clearly than anywhere else the power of divine grace of God. God endured God’s own curse to save us from our sins. This is Christian gospel saving sinners! Through the old cursed cross, the nations of the world receive forgiveness for their sins. Through the old cursed cross, we are accepted by God’s justifying grace. Through the old cursed cross, we receive the promised Holy Spirit. What was a curse for Christ becomes a blessing to us by faith.

Everyone, do you live your daily life not under the curse of the Law? Do you live your daily life not worrying about the wrath of God that will be imposed on sinners on the Judgment Day? Have you been convinced of the forgiveness of your sins and going to the new heaven and earth where our Lord Jesus Christ is awaiting for you? Do you enjoy all these amazing blessings every day? If so, this is because of the old cursed cross. If so, this is because of the old rugged bloody cross of the Son of God. He was cursed there instead of you, for you. He was cursed there like a sinner even though he never knew sins. God hanged him on there because God truly wanted to save you from the curse of the Law. God’s perfect justice was never able to overlook sins of you, but God was eager to save you, but you were not able to save yourself, so God crucified the Son. Now you live, you are free from the curse. This is the free saving grace of God. This is the Christian gospel. So look at what God has done for you, not what you have done so far. Look at the old cursed cross of the Son. Hold eternally the old rugged cross. Stay forever under the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. Then you live and will live. Again listen to what the Book of Deuteronomy testifies, “for a hanged man is cursed by God.” Again listen to the proclamation of the Epistle to the Galatians, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—.