"You will not abandon me to Sheol"

Psalm 16

Pastor Tom Johnson, April 27, 2014

The first Christian sermon ever preached had two texts: Joel chapter two and Psalm 16. Peter proclaims the resurrection to 3,000 people at the Temple in Jerusalem. Verse 10 of that Psalm is repeated three times in our readings and worship service this morning. It's and restated twice in Peter’s sermon. That is a cue that verse 10 is very important. “For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” The Hebrew word here for grave is Sheol. The New Testament translates it as Hades. The translators of the King James Version made the unfortunate decision to translate the word as hell. The Revised Standard Version realized how loaded this word is and so kept it in the Hebrew Sheol. I suppose they did this in the hope that people would do a little research as to what this word means—especially in context of biblical literature. But I think few people do this research. And, as a result, most people go on assuming that Sheol is talking about a place of eternal torment. And to top it off, the English word hell and the Greek word hades are both rooted in spiritual worldviews that do not have their origin in the Hebrew or Christian Scripture. And so, these extrabiblical ideas have a way of creeping into our thoughts and theology, namely, that Psalm 16 is talking about a netherworld of neverending punishment. Thankfully, this is not the case.

 

And really, all of that to say that I feel badly that so many people miss just how comforting this text this! “For you will not abandon me to Sheol—the grave—, nor let your holy one see the pit.” This Scripture is talking about one of the most universal fears that visits the human race: the thought which may haunt you as you lay on your bed at night and as you drift off to sleep. This fear may have brushed up against any of us through illness. Perhaps it was an averted accident where life and death flashed before your eyes. Or maybe it is simply a clear and sobering realization of our mortality. To be specific, this is the terrifying thought that death has the last word. That is exactly what sheol —or better—the grave is in the Bible—death as a menacing power that wants to swallow up life. Think of an open grave as the mouth of death and you will come close to this biblical idea of the threat of death. Think about the depths of the earth as death’s stomach and, no matter how much it is filled, its hunger never goes away. This is the Hebrew Bible’s description of death—as a monster that wants to consume all of life. For Israelite believers, their fear was personified by the gaping mouth of a stone tomb that wants to swallow us up forever. This is the idea that Peter personified as a predator when he warned us to “be alert and sober minded, for our adversary the devil is a roaring lion prowling around seeking someone to devour.” It’s the very real and human fear of Jesus who prayed in the garden of Gethsemane for the cup to pass him by—“yet not my will, but your will be done, Heavenly Father.” This was the cup that was going to pour out the last drop of his lifeblood. It’s the bone chilling conclusion that atheists have about the natural world: that we are alone, death is inevitable, and there is no God to rescue us from the insatiable hunger of the grave. We confess in the Creed that Jesus “was buried and descended into hell.” Again, the word hell is an unfortunate choice; the word grave is far better. Nevertheless, with this phrase, we affirm the truth that Jesus went into the mouth and stomach of death itself. He went into the grave and the pit for us. But the story does not end there.

 

We are still in Easter! “For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” God will not leave us as orphans—uncared-for children. He will not allow us to sink into the unrelenting gravity of the black hole of death. Do you remember our earlier discussion of the picture of the menacing power of death—as the grave with it’s open mouth and bottomless stomach? Think for a moment how God has turned that image on it’s head! Celebrate with me how God has changed that terrifying picture of death into resurrected life! “For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit.” The tomb is empty! He is not there! He has risen! “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Like Jonah who went through the mouth and into the stomach of a whale, so Jesus went through the mouth and into the stomach of death. And like Jonah who was spit up on the third day to bring forgiveness to Nineveh, so Jesus springs out of the grave to bring good news of forgiveness and triumph over death.

 

The tomb of death has been burgled! Death has been robbed its victim. God has the last word and that word is life in his Son. “Death could not hold him!” Scripture says. And in him we have the hope and assurance that God will not abandon us to our graves nor let us his holy children sink into the bottomless pit. The empty grave and pit beneath it no longer can consume and swallow us and have us for breakfast. It is now the mouth and lungs of the Gospel. The gaping stone mouth now proclaims victory over death! The stone cries out “You will not be abandoned. Death will not swallow you up. In Christ we have life forevermore!”