John Gerhard on the Resurrection
John Gerhard on the Resurrection
John Gerhard on the Resurrection Just as Jonah advised that one should toss him overboard into the sea in the midst of such violent tumult [so that] the sea would become calm. . .so also Christ Himself suggested in the counsel of the Holy Trinity that He wanted to assume human nature to stand in place of the human race and become a curse and cleansing sacrifice on its behalf. He Himself wanted to slash death’s throat so that the huge thunderstorm and huge swells of God’s wrath might be stilled, which then actually did occur. For the divine wrath which washed over all of us was stilled by the death of Christ. And thus, one Man died for all the people so that the entire world did not perish, John 11:50. Furthermore, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so also Christ was stuck for three days and three nights in the mouth of death. . .But, just as Jonah did not remain in the belly of the fish, so also Christ did not remain in the grave. Rather, He ripped Himself loose from the power of death on the third day, after it became impossible that He could be held captive by him (death), as Peter says in Acts 2:24. Just as Jonah preached repentance to the people of Nineveh after he had been rescued from the belly of the fish, so also Christ let repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached by His Apostles to the entire world after His resurrection, as He Himself testifies in Lk. 24:46. Johann Gerhard, Eleven Easter and Pentecost Sermons, pp. 8-9
