Christ’s Work of Redemption
Milton Dunavant
In the beginning, Adam
was told that he could eat freely of every tree of the garden except the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, but the Lord God said, thou shalt not eat of
it: “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen.
2:17). Adam ate of that tree and died “in that
day” as indicated and he was separated from God, fallen away from
God, and dead to God. Adam and we, as the children of Adam, were dead in
trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, in the
spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, fulfilling the desires
and lust of our flesh, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others
(Eph. 2:1-3). When we believe on the
Lord, we are given eternal life and are told that we pass from death unto life
(John 5:24).
Separation Death
Adam’s death was a
spiritual separation from God, having the curse and condemnation of God upon
him, not at all limited to his physical death. The death penalty, which occurred
on that day, was first and foremost a spiritual death with ultimate eternal
consequences. The just consequence of Adam’s fall was alienation from God,
having the condemnation of God upon him and with the ultimate consequences of hell
with its everlasting torment. Apart from salvation, Adam and his
descendants were doomed to hell and to a Christ-less eternity, having the wrath
of God abiding on them
(John 3:36).
Adam’s
fall and his spiritual separation or death caused him to become mortal and
Some have contended
that Adam did not die on the day that he ate of the forbidden fruit, contrary
to the biblical account. In their perception, he became mortal and began a
dying process and ultimately died a physical death about nine hundred years
later.
The Lord God said Adam
would die on the day he ate of the forbidden fruit.
We
read in 1 Tim. 5:6, “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while
she liveth.” Likewise, Adam was spiritually dead to God but physically
alive at that early time. Note well that Adam’s death of alienation from God
was a death far more comprehensive and of far more consequence than merely a
physical death.
1. If the penalty for sin was limited to physical death, he could pay
for His own sins by his physical death and no more payment would be due.
2. If the penalty for sin was
only physical death, and if Christ’s physical death was the total payment, why
do Christians yet die physically?
Did Christ pay the
death penalty in full that was sentenced upon fallen Adam? Why did Christ die?
He died because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). He loved us and the penalty of death was upon us. He
died for us to save us from His wrath and keep us from dying that death of a
doomed, condemned, God-forsaken sinner (John
11:25-26, John 3:36). Was it physical death? All die physically. Christ’s
death for us is the death that separates from God, not from physical
conscience and physical contact down here.
The Reign of
Death
Adam
and Eve were under the condemnation or curse of God, which was the justice of
God due their sins. Death reigned upon all of Adam’s descendants, “for as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19) and when men were saved, “they passed from death
unto life” (John 5:24). There
can he no question about this. Adam and all his descendents were dead, though
physically alive, until they were given spiritual life through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The inspired apostle Paul said, “The wages of sin is
death,” (Rom 6:23). He also
said, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we judge, that if one
died for all, then were all dead,” (2
Cor. 5:14). Unquestionably, all men were under the sentence of death in
separation from God and Christ died that
separation death for all men and took upon Him the ultimate condemnation of
that death in His “work of redemption.”
In
that Christ died for our sins, he died in separation from God to pay the
consequences imposed upon Adam. He died a death that we deserve, so that as
believers, we, henceforth, will never die that death. The Apostle John said, “Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:26). Here, he spoke not of physical death but of spiritual
death which believers will not experience.
God’s
condemnation of man was man’s just penalty and Christ took that condemnation upon
Himself and died the death that was ours. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3-4), taking what we
deserved. He died for us to keep us from dying
that death of a doomed,
condemned, God forsaken sinner.
I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23).
Christ's Physical
Death in the Atonement
After
Adam’s fall the Lord God gave him the gospel (Gen. 3:15), as he rebuked the serpent, saying, “It (the seed of
the woman) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The Lord
illustrated to Adam the spiritual reality of death by the physical death of
lambs, whose skins, he used to clothe Adam and Eve.
Rom. 5:13-14 -
For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is
no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of
him that was to come.
Later, the penalty of physical death was incorporated
into the Law of Moses which God gave to the nation of
Gal. 3:13 -
“Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree:”
Under the Jewish law
(or government), animal sacrifices were offered to atone for their sins. This
atonement forgave them of their sins (Lev.
4:20, 26, 31, 35 and 4:10, 13, 16) and sanctified to the purifying of
their flesh (Heb. 9:13) in
regards to their physical and national law. This prevented them from physically
dying under the judgment and penalty of the law. However, these sacrifices did
not and could not give them a good conscience (Heb. 9:14) nor could it take away their sins before God in the
courts of heaven, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins.”
(Heb.
10:4). “... and without shedding of
blood is no remission,” (Heb.9:22).
Therefore, it was
necessary for Christ to shed His blood and to die physically to take the
penalty of the law upon Himself, thus atoning for the sins of the law before
God. The supreme penalty of the law was physical death and was the
penalty due all who fell short of the righteousness of God, declared by the
law.
Christ’s physical
death did not keep men from dying, but it paid the penalty of the law for men’s
sins and provided for the redemption of their bodies through Christ’s
resurrection from the dead. His death of separation from God was the death
that prevents us from dying and is the death that we will not die. Therefore,
Christ died a death that was both physical and spiritual. Both aspects of His
death were for the atonement of men and both were a part of the “work of
redemption.” The teaching of Christ’s separation death does not suggest that
His physical death was not needed or was not in the atonement, but it clearly
teaches that Christ died a death that we will not die, (John 11:25-26 &
John 8:51).
It is in Christ that
we have redemption - “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins:”
(Col. 1:14).
Again, “Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot.”
(1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Again, “And you,
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:” (Col. 1:21-22).
And again, “But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons.”
(Gal.
4:4-5)
Christ’s physical
death, with the shedding of His blood, redeemed mankind from the curse of the
law and from the guilt and penalty, resulting from man’s inability to attain to
the righteousness of God required by the law.
Christ, the Lamb of
God, was the fulfillment of the offerings made by the woolly lambs. The fact,
that Christ suffered and bled and died in the flesh, does not negate, forbid,
nor nullify His separation death but was a visible example and witness to it.
Christ’s death of the cross was both physical and spiritual; therefore the
preaching of the cross (the gospel) is the power of God unto salvation (1 Cor. 1:18, Rom. 1:16). His
separation from God was by far the greater penalty, even more terrible than the
anguish of the crucifixion.
Gal. 6:14 - “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world.”
Christ's Soul Not
Left in Hell
(Acts 2:31,
Matt., 12:40, Eph. 4:8-10)
In Acts 2:27, the apostle Peter quotes Psalm 16:10, a Psalm of David, spoken of Christ, saying,
“Because,
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption.”
Then in Acts 2:30-31, Peter explains the
meaning of David’s words, saying,
“therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne;
(31)
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.”
Peter explains that
David was not speaking of himself, but of Christ, who was his descendent after
the flesh. David knew that God would raise up Christ, being told of God and
confirmed by an oath. Peter explains that David, being a prophet, spoke
prophetically, saying that Christ’s soul was not left in hell, neither did
Christ’s flesh see corruption. The Bible says, “Christ’s soul; was not left
in hell.” His soul had gone to hell during His death, but was not left there. According
to these three verses and the apostle Peter’s interpretation of them, Christ’s
soul was in hell, but was brought forth from hell by the resurrection.
David could not be
speaking of himself, saying, that his own soul was not left in hell; because
David was not going to be in hell. He was a saved man and would not come into
condemnation. David said, “For great is thy mercy toward me and thou hast
delivered my soul from the lowest hell,” (Psa. 86:13). [If this verse is speaking of David, he was delivered
from hell, being saved from it. However and apparently, this verse is prophetic
words, relating to the Lord Jesus Christ and his deliverance from the lowest
hell at the time of His resurrection.]
When Christ’s soul and
spirit were separated from His body in physical death, His spirit went to the hands of the Father (Lk. 23:46) and His soul,
the ever-existent inner person, went to
hell to the place that was the destination of man under the condemnation of
God, but He was not left there (Acts
2:30-31). Thank God. After
three days, He arose victorious over hell, having the keys of death and
hell (Rev. 1:18), so that those that
are saved from the wrath of God, will not have to go there, neither will they
die the death that Christ died for them.
These verses speak
specifically of the three day duration period of Christ’s death, not of a time
ending shortly before Christ’s physical death occurred. Christ had commended His
spirit into the hands of God just before He gave up the Spirit (Lk. 23:46). And when His spirit and
soul departed from the body, He was then physically dead. Soon afterwards, His
body was laid in a tomb; thus, His body
was in the grave, His spirit was in the hands of God, and His soul was in hell. God had assured David of Christ’s
resurrection, that His soul “would not be left in hell and His flesh would
not see corruption.” It was by the resurrection that His soul was not left
in hell (Acts 2:22-35). It was by
His resurrection that He broke the bonds of death, hell, and the grave.
Christ’s Three
Day Death Taught in the Gospel
The gospel according
to the apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 15:3-4, is
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was
buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Paul
specifically includes the three day duration of Christ’s death and His
resurrection from the dead.
The preaching of the
gospel, Christ’s death for our sins, His burial and His resurrection on the
third day, includes and confirms the three days of Christ’s death. This is the
“gospel” or “Christ’s work of redemption” for us. His death had not ended until
He arose from the dead.
Though we cannot fully
comprehend all that Christ did for us, we can be sure,
all that He did and all of His redeeming atonement was counted to
those, who believed on Him, whether they fully comprehended it or not.
Salvation is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the benefits of His redemptive
work, and all that it includes, are credited to the believers.
Peter professed his
faith in the Lord, saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(Matt. 16:16). Soon afterwards,
Jesus told his disciples that he must go unto
Some believers in
Christ may not have the knowledge, the understanding, or the conscious understanding
of the great work Christ did for them; yet, all He did for them is counted to
their credit. Believers cannot dictate to God what He must do for them to be
saved, but they should seek to know and to understand what he did for them in
sincerity and truth:
Christ's
Resurrection from Hell, Prophesied by Jonah
In 1 Cor. 15:3-4,
we read, “For I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:” At the time the apostle Paul wrote this
epistle, very little of the new scriptures were written and the words, “according
to the scriptures,” referred to the Old Scriptures. Now, according to the
Old Scriptures, Christ would arise from the dead the third day. Surely,
the most certain account is given by the prophet Jonah. Christ, Himself,
interpreted the truth of Jonah’s experience to His own death experience,
saying, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly:
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth.”
In the reading of the
prophet Jonah, we find him experiencing an allegory of Christ’s three day
duration of death (Jonah 1:17). Jonah
prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly. As this was a prophesy of
Christ’s three days and three nights, Jonah spoke prophetic words, even as
David did in Psa. 16:10, and he said, “I cried by reason of mine affliction
unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of “hell” cried I, and thou,
heardest my voice.” God brought Jonah through this example experience so
that, in the spirit, he spoke the prophetic words of Christ, “out of the belly
of hell cried I.” Jonah was not in “hell” but he, as a prophet, was not
speaking of himself, but of Christ, when Christ would cry out to God from
“hell,” during His sin conquering death.
Christ’s Three
Days of Death Prophesied by the
Only the old civil
calendar year was in use at the time of the flood, being prior to the Exodus.
The flood came on the 2nd month and on the 17th day of the month. It rained for
40 days and 40 nights and the fountains of the deep opened up and the whole
earth was covered with water. The judgment of God was poured upon the earth and
upon the ark which took the judgment penalty upon it while those in the ark
were safe and sound. The waters covered the mountains and after the waters had
prevailed upon the earth 150 days, the waters were abated and on the 7th month
and the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
The ark, being
overwhelmed by the wrath of God upon a sinful world, so beautifully typifies
the Lord Jesus Christ in His death as He took the wrath of God on Himself to
give life to all who believe on Him. “The like figure where unto even baptism
(the baptism of death 1 Pet. 3:18, Lk. 12:50) doth also now save us ... by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
1 Pet
3:21.
The 7th month of the
old civil year (Abib or Nisan) is the same as the 1st month of the
ecclesiastical year of which we read in Ex. 12. And on the 17th day the ark
came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. This is the self same day of the year
that the Lord Jesus completed His 3 days and 3 nights of death, in which the
bellows of God’s wrath swept over Him. This done, He arose in resurrection from
the dead in victory over death, hell, and the grave. The ark did not come to
rest on the 14th day (the day of crucifixion), but on the 17th day
(three days later at the end of His prophesied death and at His resurrection
from the dead. This must be more than mere coincidence and these dates were
recorded and well known to all
Christ’s Soul, an
Offering for Sin
In
Isa. 53, Isaiah
describes in prophetic words that, (6) “All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on “him the
iniquity of us all.” (8) “... he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” (9) “And he
made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; …” (10)
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul and offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand.” (11) “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he
shall bear their iniquities.” (12) “Therefore will I divide him a portion with
the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath
poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
This text goes beyond
the physical death of Christ into the separation death in which the Lord God
would bruise him and put Him to grief; when he would make His soul an
offering for sin. This is an essential part of the atonement and of the
“work of redemption.”
In the spirit, David spoke prophetically of
Christ’s sufferings of the pain of hell:
Psa. 116:3 - The
sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found
trouble and sorrow.
The Bible says that the
pains of hell got hold upon Christ. It is neither assumption nor a
conclusion drawn from vague evidence.
Psa. 22:1-2 - My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and
from the words of my roaring?
(2)
0 my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night
season, and am not silent.
This text portrays
Christ crying to the Lord God in the daytime and in the night season, but God
does not hear (or respond) until the three days are fulfilled.
Please, read the
following verses relative to this subject: John 12:31-32, Heb. 2:14-15, Col
2:14-15, Psa. 69; Psa. 88; Psa. 22:1, 4-8, 11-18, 20-21; and Zech. 12:10;
13:6-7.
It is Finished
In
John 17:4, when Jesus was
praying with His disciples at the supper, before He was betrayed by Judas, he
said, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do.” He had not finished the “work of redemption,” when
none of the cross work had yet been done. Christ is simply not addressing his
work of atonement and redemption. In this text, he is apparently speaking of
His preaching ministry among the people which He had then finished and
was ready to be offered as the Lamb of God. It is easy to see that it would be
a misapplication of scripture to say His “Work of redemption” or “the work of
atonement” was finished at that time.
In John 19:28-30, after the soldiers had parted his raiment and
he had presented His mother to the disciple whom he loved, we read, “After
this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture
might be fulfilled, saith ‘I Thirst.” Was Christ here saying that the
“penalty for sin” was complete or that the “work of redemption” was then
accomplished? Of course not. He is simply saying that all things were
accomplished in order that the last prophesy of scripture, before He gave up
the Ghost, might be fulfilled; therefore he said, “I thirst.” Prompted
by this statement, they brought vinegar and put it to his mouth and when He had
received the vinegar,
they thus
fulfilled the remaining prophesy.
When He had received
it, he said, “It is finished:” (John 19:30), and he bowed His head, and
gave up the ghost. He did not say that the “work of redemption” was
finished. He did not say that the “gospel” of the death, burial, and
resurrection was finished. He did not say the “penalty for sin” (the atonement)
was finished. When they, had given Him vinegar to drink, all the prophetic
scriptures were fulfilled of things that would be done to Him, during His
crucifixion, without exception. All the
devilish deeds were now finished which had foretold and identified Him as
the promised Saviour of the world.
At the time He said, “It
is finished,” He had not yet given up the Ghost in death, nor had He been
buried, nor had He risen from the dead. The “work of redemption” could not
possibly have been finished at that time.
Those, who assume the
“payment for sin was finished” at that time,
have no biblical foundation for
their claim and have imposed their assumption upon the text in direct
contradiction to Bible truth.
1. They make this claim as if
the facts of the gospel need not be accomplished, and
2. As if the penalty of God’s wrath in a burning hell need not be paid,
and
3. As if Christ had paid the
full penalty for sin at that time and could have come down off the cross
without needing to die.
The assumption is
completely beyond the realm of responsible and biblical reason. This assumption
of the key words, “It is finished,” is a fundamental error with far reaching
consequences.
It has become
the faulty premise on which other assumptions have been made on related issues.
In Acts 13:29, we read, “And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a
sepulchre.” Again, the Bible is declaring that all those things, which were
written about His crucifixion, were completely fulfilled before He was taken
down. Certainly, Paul was not saying that Christ’s future burial and
resurrection were fulfilled. Neither was he saying that the “work of
redemption” was fulfilled prior to the facts of the gospel - the death, burial,
and the resurrection. Paul’s words simply informed those of Antioch that all
the prophesies, relating to His crucifixion, were fulfilled without fail and
according to the word of God; and when they were done, they took Him down from
the tree.
Because of the
misunderstanding of Christ’s words, “It
is finished,” some have gone to extreme measures to deny that anything
which was done after those words were spoken, was any part of His “payment for sin,” or His “work of redemption.” Christ’s words, “It
is finished,” were said before He died physically to atone for the
curse of the law, before He was buried, and before He “was raised
again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25), which is the gospel of salvation.
If all was finished before He died, the blood Christ shed when the soldier pierced
His side could not be a part of the atonement and was too late to be counted at
all.
Their assumption
requires all the condemnation of God and the full penalty of fallen man to be
upon Christ before he said the key words, “It
is finished.” Therefore, some have claimed that the wrath of God and the
torments of “hell” were on Christ to
their fullest before those words were spoken. This assumption moves the wrath
of God out of hell and mysteriously puts it on Christ during His crucifixion,
prior to His death.
Thereby, they deny
the need for Christ to go to hell to endure the wrath of God.
This is just another
assumption needed to defend the previous assumption imposed upon John 19:30.
Also, it has a flagrant likeness to the erroneous doctrine of “transubstantiation”
in which physical bread is blessed by a priest thereby literally becoming the
body of Christ - body, soul, and divinity.
The suffering of the
crucifixion, prior to His death, was
not all of the penalty that was
sentenced upon fallen man. The penalty of hell,
the wrath of God to come, was the
abiding (pending) wrath of God upon fallen man (John 3:36) and that penalty had to be paid by the Lord Jesus
Christ. The penalty of hell was not
on Christ, before He died. Hell was
not on the cross, neither was the cross in hell.
How anyone could realistically believe the “torment
of hell” was on Christ while He was on the cross and before He died, is
more that I can comprehend. That would be a fantastic piece of imagination and
nothing less than a doctrine of transubstantiation. If I could believe that
“hell” or the “torments of hell” was actually moved or became the place called,
“Golgotha,” or that “Golgotha” became the place called, “hell;” perhaps, I
could believe the Roman wafer could become the body, soul, and divinity of the
Lord Jesus, according to the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation.
The Bible
does not teach that the crucifixion was in hell; neither that the torments of
hell were upon Christ before His death at the crucifixion.
Resurrection From
the Dead
Some contend that when
Christ had shed His blood and died in His f1esh on the cross, all of His
redemptive work was completed while He was yet on the cross. They speak, as if
Christ’s death in the flesh was all that was necessary, saying that He did
nothing more to atone for man’s sins after He took His last breathe. Also, they
assume that the “work of redemption” was finished by the time Christ said the
key words, “It is finished,” even before His death. Both arguments erroneously separate Christ’s payment for sin from the
three days of His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
Can we know when
Christ’s death ended? This is most easily understood. Christ’s death did not
end until He was raised “from the dead” (Rom. 4:24).
Jesus said, “Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17-18).
Again Christ said, “Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19).
Peter, speaking of the
Prince of life, said, “whom God hath raised from the dead…” (Acts 3:15).
Paul alleged that “Christ
must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus,
... is Christ”
(Acts 17:3).
Again, Peter said,
that Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened (i.e. made
alive) by the Spirit:”
(1 Pet.
3:18).
Therefore, the
resurrection was by the power of the triune God of whom Christ never ceased to
be a person in the God head. Verses that say God raised Him from the dead are
not excluding Christ or the Holy Spirit from their participation in it. Most
surely, Christ laid down His life and He
also took it up again. The temple of His body was destroyed and He raised
it up again. This is something that Christ did as a part of the “work of
redemption.” Christ was neither a mere man nor limited to the abilities of man.
In
Acts 2:23-24,
Peter,
speaking to the people at
“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon
me: I found trouble and sorrow, (Psa.
116:3). It is absurd for anyone to say that Christ was not dead, physically
and spiritually, from the time of His crucifixion until He was resurrected from
the dead.
We
are “now justified by his blood” (Rom 5:9). Also, Christ “was raised
again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). And the apostle Paul said, “If
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor.
15:17). We can not be justified apart from the resurrection of Christ. His
resurrection is an essential part of the “work of redemption” and it was simply
impossible for it to be “finished” before the resurrection.
Some
misuse Rom. 3:25, contending that faith in the blood of Christ, apart from His
death, brings remission as if faith in anything more than His blood is adding
to the gospel. The purpose of this argument is to deny that Christ continued to
suffer the death of separation from God after He said the words, “It is
finished.” The argument limits salvation to faith in Christ’s blood, as if
Christ did nothing else for our atonement. It is unscriptural to claim
salvation by the blood when used in exclusion of Christ’s death and of His
resurrection. An argument, “that proves too much, proves nothing at all.”
1 Pet. 3:21, speaks of Christ’s baptism
of death and suffering (Lk. 12:50 &
1 Pet. 3:18), saying, “baptism doth also now save us ... by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ;” therefore, His death (death baptism) for us
could only be effective if He was resurrected from the dead in victory over death,
hell, and the grave.
The
bible verses that speak of the “blood of Christ” or of the “blood of the cross”
are words that simply express that Christ gave His life to redeem us, to
justify us, or to remit our sins. “The life of the f1esh is in the blood.”
Lev.
17:14 - For it (the
blood)
is the life of all
flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the
children of
In
that He shed His blood, He gave His life. The shedding of His blood meant that
The Preaching of
the Cross
On the cross, Christ
cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me,” (Matt. 27:46). Also,
there was darkness over the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth
hour, as a visible witness that God had forsaken His Son. “For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him,” (2 Cor. 5:21). In that Christ was made to be sin for us, he
was there as a sinner, dying the physical death required by the law and
the separation death sentenced upon Adam and upon all mankind
(Rom.
5:12).
Phil. 2:8 tells us that Christ became obedient unto
death, even the “death of the, cross.” Christ’s death of the cross was
both spiritual and physical and continued three days and until the resurrection
(Matt 12:40, Acts 4:2). Such verses are not saying that Christ’s atoning
death was finished or had ended while yet on the cross. To limit the length of
time of Christ’s death, by such verses, imposes meanings upon the passages
that, simply, are not there. Most assuredly, His death continued until He
arose from the dead.
There are absolutely
no verses that teach salvation, redemption, remission, or justification, apart
from the resurrection. Though it was an act of victory from death, it was a
necessary part of the “work of redemption” (1 Cor. 15:17), and should not be
excluded in our understanding of scripture. Christ’s resurrection is an
essential part of the gospel message (1 Cor. 15:3-4), and Christ arose from the dead for our justification (Rom. 4:25) to
complete the gospel; therefore the resurrection was a part of “the work of
redemption.”
Some have contended
that “the preaching of the cross,” referred only to what happened to Christ
while He was hanging on the cross. With this argument, they deny the three days
of His death and His resurrection from the dead as part of the payment for sin
or the power of God unto salvation. Such arguments contend that “the preaching
of the cross” does not include Christ’s three-day death or His resurrection.
Therefore, their contention of the preaching of the cross does not
include the preaching of the gospel.
In Mk 8:34, we read, “Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, and, take up his cross, and follow
me.” The word, “cross” is here used to indicate one’s responsibility or what
he must bear (See Matt 10:38, 16:24; Mk.10:21; Lk 9:23, 14:27). Likewise, the
“preaching of the cross” is the preaching of what Christ bore for us (not only
the physical sufferings, as excruciating as they were, before His death). The prophesied three-day and three-night
death was included in the cross He bore for the children of Adam. The three
day death was for our sins and the resurrection was necessary for the
redemption of mankind, therefore the preaching of the cross includes the
preaching of the gospel. Surely, this is simple enough for anyone to
understand and most surely taught in the scriptures many times over.
In, 1 Cor. 1:17, the
apostle Paul said, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest “the cross of Christ” should be made of
none effect.” Obviously, “the preaching of the cross” was “the preaching
of the gospel,” according to the inspired apostle Paul. Therefore,
“the
preaching of the cross” includes His three days of death and His resurrection.
In Gal. 6:14, we read, “God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ... ,” The apostle Paul was not
glorying in Christ’s suffering, while hanging on the cross, a part from His
three-day death and His glorious resurrection. Without the resurrection, Christ’s
suffering and death would have spelled defeat and failure and no salvation. It
is a misuse of this text to disallow any part of the gospel that occurred after
Christ was taken down from the cross.
The
terms, “preaching of the cross” “the cross work,” and “the cross of
Christ,” refer to the gospel (the good news) of what Christ did for fallen
man. The claiming of only the sufferings prior to His death, without the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, does great violence to the truth of the
gospel.
Christ's Spirit
Commended to God
Shortly
before Christ gave up His spirit, He said, “Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit,” (Lk. 23:46). His spirit went to the
hands of God, consistent to the words spoken by Solomon of old, saying, “Then
shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it,” (Ecc. 12:7). Solomon declared that man’s spirit returned
to God at death, long before the time of the cross. Also, they stoned Stephen
into eternity as he called upon God, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59) Obviously, his spirit
returned to the Lord at the time of his death.
Christ’s
words indicated that He was about to give up His spirit in death and that His
spirit would go to His Father during the time of his death. Christ’s spirit went to the hands of the
Father, his body was in the tomb, and his soul was in hell, enduring the
pains of death until His resurrection (Acts 2:24; 31); therefore, His death and
his sufferings were not finished shortly before his physical death or at the
time of physical death. The return of Christ’s spirit to the hands of God did
not indicate that He had completed his separation death, or that the payment
for sin was finished, or that the “work of redemption” was complete at that
time.
Christ and the
Thief in
While
on the cross, Christ said to the believing thief,
“Verily I say
unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise”
(Lk. 23:43 KJV).
Some have contended
that Christ could not have gone to hell and endured the torment of hell and be
with the thief in Paradise in a heavenly place, concluding that
Christ’s
spirit had been committed into the hands of the Father (Lk. 23:46) and the
thief’s spirit had returned to God, who gave it (Ecc. 12:7; Acts 7:59). Their
spiritual presence, together before God in paradise, is a condition which could
easily account for the fulfillment of Christ’s promise, without assuming a
conflict with Christ’s soul being in “hell” until the resurrection. Therefore, the
text of Lk 23:43, is not a sufficient basis to assume that
The
word “
Also,
the word “to” was capitalized as if it was the beginning of the sentence in the
KJV (contrary to the Greek). Therefore, “To
day” is separated from “Verily I say
unto thee” and is often read and quoted as the first word of Christ’s sentence,
disregarding his first words,
“Verily I
say unto you to day …..”
The
believing thief had said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom.” (v - 42) He did not ask to be
remembered later that same day, neither did he ask where he would be later that
same day. He asked to be remembered when Christ came into His kingdom.
[Did Jesus give an answer to the thief’s
request? Was His answer, “Yes, you will be with me in the kingdom?” Did Jesus
come into His kingdom on the day of crucifixion? Was it possible for the thief
to be in the kingdom on the same day as the crucifixion?]
Jesus replied with a
promise, that the thief would be remembered, saying,
“Verily I say unto thee
to day, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
(v -
43) According to this translation, Christ did not promise that the thief
would be with Him on that same day, but rather He promised on that day, that
the thief would be “with Him in paradise” in that future time, when He should
come into His kingdom. Thus, Christ assured the believing thief that he would
be remembered in that future day when Christ came into His kingdom
as he
had requested and did not address where they would be a few hours later.
These translation
additions in the KJV, not only translated, but interpreted the text in a highly
questionable manner. This is definitely not a verse on which to build a
doctrine that assumes another location for Paradise, not found in the Bible,
neither is it a verse to deny that Christ’s soul was in
hell
(Acts 2:31). Some church groups have
steadfastly rejected the KJV interpretation. Indeed, it appears, Luke 23:43 in
the KJV has been interpreted incorrectly, being so interpreted by translators,
who were influenced by their Roman heritage and the doctrine of purgatory.
The bible clearly teaches Christ’s three
day death for man’s sins and the pains of hell got hold upon Him (Psa. 116:3)
when He was in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). His resurrection loosed
the pains of death (Acts 2:24) and He was not left in hell (Acts 2:31) but was
resurrected after 3 days and 3 nights and according to the promise (Lk. 23:43),
the believing thief shall be with the Lord in
(A Commentary
Quote in regard to
Our Lord’s declaration
to the dying thief - ‘Verily I say unto
you this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43 with complete
quote added in italics), has been urged on both sides of the argument; but the
word is here not Hades, but Paradise, and no instance can be produced in
which the paradise beyond the grave means anything else than that ‘third
heaven,’ that ‘paradise’ into which the Apostle was caught up, and where he
heard ‘unutterable things’ (2 Cor. 12:2,4). In the midst of that
paradise grows the mystic ‘tree of life’ (Rev. 2:7), which the same
writer represents as growing near the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev.
22:2). (Quoted from the Cyclopeadia of Biblical Literature)
Abraham’s Bosom
The story of Lazarus
and the rich man (Lk. 16:19-31) has been misused in ways that have brought
great confusion. Some have assumed that Abraham’s
bosom was a “compartment of hell,” in which Abraham and Lazarus were seen
by the rich man from his place in the flames of hell. Nothing was said of the
rich man seeing a “region,” called, “Abraham’s Bosom.” in which all the
righteous dead are assumed to have been. The text says, “And in hell he (the
rich man) lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off and Lazarus in his bosom (as in his embrace).”
Abraham’s wife, Sarai,
bare no children in about the first 75 years of her life. And in her apparent
desire to have a son, she gave her maid, Hagar, to Abram to be his wife that
she might obtain children by her maid. Afterwards, Sarai said unto Abram, “My
wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into
thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her
eyes:” Abraham’s bosom was not a region in the which were he and Hagar; Hagar
was in “Abraham’s bosom” or in his embrace.
Lazarus died and was carried by the angels
(heavenly beings) to where Abraham was. Abraham was a long way from hell,
according to the Bible. The rich man died and in hell lifted up his eyes, being
in torments, and seeth the person, Abraham,
afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. Evidently, Abraham was with the Lord in “heaven” and Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom as in his embrace. When
Lazarus arrived, they were both with the Lord, but the rich man, who was in
hell, said, “I am tormented in this flame.”
(v - 24) Were Abraham and
Lazarus in a compartment of hell? They most certainly were not. The Scriptures
say that the rich man saw Abraham
“afar
off” and Lazarus in his bosom. There
is no reason to think that the heavenly angels carried Lazarus down into a part
of hell or that Abraham was in any part of hell. Lazarus was then “comforted” and the rich man was “tormented.” Beside all that, there was
a great gulf fixed (v-26) between them so that they could not pass over.
According to the biblical description, the great
gulf between them separated heaven and hell and the rich man saw Lazarus “afar off,” even in that heavenly place.
This communication
between Abraham and the rich man was not a physical communication; their bodies
were in the grave. This is a communication between their ever existent souls
where distance is not a limiting factor with the Lord. Even Paul, when he was
caught up into paradise (to the third heaven) and heard unspeakable words, did
not know whether he was in the body or out of the body (1 Cor. 12:1-4). We must
not distort the scriptures to limit Abraham and the rich man’s communication to
a physical communication.
(A Commentary Quote)
This unscriptural
doctrine, which assumes paradise was
in a part of hell, “is a doctrine received by a large portion of the nominal
Christian church; and it forms the foundation of the Roman Catholic doctrine
of Purgatory, for which there would be no ground but for this interpretation of
the word hades.” - (quoted from The Cyclopeadia of Biblical Literature)
Was
Though, there is no
recorded location for paradise, except in the third heaven, some conjecture
that paradise was formally down in the earth and in an assumed mild part of
hell and was moved to heaven at Christ’s resurrection. This they do without
biblical authority for such supposition. Eph. 4:8-10 has been misused for this
purpose and from which they assume such meaning.
Eph.
4:8-10 - Wherefore he saith, When, he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now
that he ascended, what is it but, that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth?
10 He
that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he
might fill all things.)
Christ’s
ascension was, preceded by His descending into “the lower parts of the earth,”
which is not into the grave, but into “hell,” itself, as the apostle
Peter stated in Acts 2:31. Again, in Matt. 12:40, Christ said, “For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” These
expressions, “the lower parts of the earth” and “the heart of the
earth,” are descriptive of the place where the souls of the unrighteous
dead are cast (not six feet below the surface of the earth).
Contrary
to the assumptions of some, Eph. 4:8-10 said nothing about Christ moving
paradise out of hell into the heavens or of taking saved souls from a supposed
compartment of hell, a supposed paradise in hell, and moving them into heaven.
Christ
descended into the lower parts of the earth and afterwards ascended far above
all heavens to fill all things. Christ led captivity captive or took captive
Satan’s power of death of which fallen man has been held in captivity (Psa.
68:18). The captivity (or Satan’s power of death) was taken captive by Christ
through His victory over death that he might be Lord of heaven and earth.
Heb.
2:9 - “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God
should taste death for every man.” And again, in Heb. 2:14-15 - “... That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” And again, in 1 Pet. 3:22 -
“Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right
hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”
The Righteous
Dead before Christ's Resurrection
The
whole idea of the righteous dead, who died before Christ’s resurrection and
ascension, supposedly, having been taken down into the earth and held until
Christ’s ascension, is without biblical foundation. This idea was espoused
before the time of the reformation by the Roman church and portions of it
received wide spread acceptance by many in Christendom. They taught that the
righteous dead were taken into a part of hell (which they called purgatory) to
have the remainder of their unforgiven sins purged. The prayers of the Roman
priest for the dead were supposed to shorten their time in purgatory and end
the suffering of the purge. The survivors of the deceased would pay the priests
to pray for their relatives, being told their loved ones were not yet out of
purgatory. The Roman Bishops, Cardinals, priest, etc, fleeced the flock of
their money and possessions in extreme abuses. The continual reinforcement of
the basic doctrine, made necessary by the Roman doctrine of purgatory, kept the
idea prominently displayed in our society, without regard for those, who firmly
contended against this unbiblical doctrine. Not only is it without biblical
foundation, it is in direct conflict with the revealed word of God on the
subject.
Enoch and Elijah
Taken Up to Heaven
In
Gen. 5:24, we read, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took
him.” This portion of Scripture, in which God took Enoch up unto Himself,
is completely inconsistent with the idea of his having to remain as a captive
in some supposed place down in the earth.
In
2 Kings 2:1, we read, “And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up
Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.” And in verse 11, “And it came to pass, as they
still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and
horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by the
whirlwind into heaven.” If, during those times, the abode of the righteous
dead was somewhere in the earth, why was Enoch and Elijah taken up into heaven?
Was there supposed to be a reason why the saints of old were supposed to be
disallowed into heaven until after Christ’s ascension? We note that these two
men were taken bodily without dying and without having to wait until Christ’s ascension.
Nevertheless, the Lord took them (body, soul, and spirit,) into the presence of
the Lord and into heaven instead of holding them somewhere in the earth.
Also, there is no biblical reason for the souls of the righteous; who died
before Christ’s ascension, to be held in a supposed upper part of hell until
His ascension.
Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob Were Alive
At
the burning bush, God said unto Moses, “I am the God of thy father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” (Ex. 3:6). During
Christ’s ministry, the Sadducees asked about a woman, who had had seven
husbands before she died. They denied that there was a resurrection and were
asking a trick question, saying, “In the resurrection therefore, when they
shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them?” Christ said, “Do ye not
therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in
marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.” Christ words clearly
rebuked them for not knowing the scriptures on this subject.
He
further reminds them of the scriptures and of the “burning bush event” to prove
that the dead are raised. He confirmed the resurrection by describing the
current status of certain righteous dead. Christ said, “And as touching
the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the
bush, God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the
living: ye therefore do greatly err.” (Mk. 12:26-27).
Thus
Christ declares that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose bodies were in the grave,
were alive. Their inner-person or the henceforth ever existent soul was
currently alive and the Lord God was currently the God of the living Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Apparently, their eternal soul and spirit were already
with the Lord God, waiting for the time of the resurrection, when their new,
undying bodies would be caught up to be reunited.
Christ
first establishes the current fact; the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had
been taken up to be with the Lord and were alive unto Him. Christ gave their
living presence with the Lord as the evidence which indicated a future
resurrection of their bodies. Nothing indicated that they were captives,
waiting to be delivered to heaven or that they were in a supposed cooler compartment
of Hell down in the earth. Christ portrayed their living presence with the
Lord as the sure basis on which the bodies of the believing dead are
resurrected.
Christ’s
words of truth were not at all compatible with the supposed idea that the
righteous dead were in prison as captives even in the supposed happier region
of hades, the supposed former location of
Moses and Elias
Appeared in Glory
At the mount of
transfiguration, Moses and Elias, appeared in kingdom glory with the Lord Jesus
as his raiment was shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth
could white them (Mk 9:2-7, Lk 9:28-36). Their appearance seems to confirm
their presence with God and access to the Lord and was not consistent in any
way to the idea that they as righteous dead were being held down in the earth
as captives. Since we know Elijah had been taken to heaven, should we imagine
Elijah was brought down from heaven and Moses was brought up out of a
compartment of hell for this preview of the kingdom?
King David Taken
Up
David knew that at
death the Lord would take him up to heaven, saying, “Hide not thy face far
from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me
not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” (Psa. 27:10). David’s father
and mother would depart from this earth in death and forsake him. But with
confidence, David said, when they forsook him, the Lord would take him up,
obviously, up into heaven to be with the Lord, not down into the
earth into a supposed holding place for the righteous dead as a captive. David’s
words are part of the inspired scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17); therefore they are
accurate and dependable. What more do we need to be convinced to discard this
Roman doctrine and traditional myth? What more do we need to accept the
Bible truth that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and all the saints of old were
taken up to be with the Lord, into the Paradise of God in the third heaven
where the apostle Paul said it was? (2 Cor. 12:1-4).
In Psa. 90:10, David
also said, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and
sorrow; for it is soon cut off,
and we
fly away.”
Did
David mean to say, believers’ labour and sorrow would soon be cut off and then
believers would fly upward unto the Lord or downward into the earth?
In Psa. 73:22-24,
David also said:
22 So foolish was I, and
ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am
continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to
glory.
The foregoing should
be more than sufficient to establish that the righteous dead of the past were
taken up into heaven and were not taken as captivities, down, into the earth
into a compartment of hell or therein held until the resurrection of Christ. This
is said with confidence, considering that there is no known biblical text,
saying Paradise was in hell or down in the earth, nor that the righteous dead
were taken down into any part of hell or down into the heart of the earth. For
those who contend that hell (hades) is the grave instead of a burning place of
torment, this brief comment is added: The context of every verse except one,
recorded in the new scriptures, containing the Greek word “hades,” forbids
translating it into the word “grave.” The translators could not even reasonably
translate “hades” into the word “grave” except in 1 Cor. 15:55 and their
exception diminished the ultimate strength of the verse by the word “grave.” If
it had been translated like every other verse, it would read as follows: “O
death, where is thy sting? O HELL (“hades”),
where is thy victory?” Not only over the grave, but the ultimate victory was
over HELL itself.
Christ Paid the
Penalty for Sin in Full
The penalty for sin is
death.
Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:3-4.
The penalty for sin is the wrath of God. John 3:36; Eph.
2:3; 1 Thess. 1:10.
The penalty for sin is hell. Matt. 10:28; Mk. 9:43-49.
Are these three
descriptions truly the penalty for sin? Did Christ fully pay the penalty? Or
was something left unpaid? It was imperative that the penalty for sin be paid
in full. The above verses emphatically
declare the penalty for man’s sin included Christ’s separation death, the
horrors of the wrath of God, and the torment in a place called hell where the
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Thus Christ was delivered for
our offences, and was raised again for
our justification (Rom. 4:25). Therefore, Christ paid the penalty of death,
of hell, and of the wrath of God or else it has never yet been paid.
The Passover
Lamb, Type of the Lamb of God
The Passover Lamb was
most surely a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, and
Thus, the children of
The Offering of
Isaac, Type of Christ
In Gen 22, God said to Abraham, “Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
When Isaac said to his
father, Abraham, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?” Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering:” (Gen.
22:7-8). Abraham’s answer was prophetic beyond the offering of Isaac or of
the ram caught in the thicket. Abraham was speaking prophetically, that God
would provide himself the Lamb of God for a burnt offering. Christ said, “Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (John 8:56)
Burnt Offerings,
Type of Christ
Sacrifices, which
foretold of the sacrifice of Christ, were repeatedly called “burnt
offerings,” and “offerings made by fire.” Certainly, they teach that
the promised Saviour would save fallen man from a burning hell, by bearing the
penalty upon Himself.
From the time of Adam
and Eve, it was known that the penalty for the sin of fallen man was a
spiritual or separation death. Adam died in separation from God on the very day
that he ate the forbidden fruit, though he lived physically about another nine
hundred years. That spiritual death, being dead in trespasses and in sins and
dead to God, ultimately included the “wrath of God” in a “burning
hell.” Those that were saved, were saved from that wrath of God (Matt. 3:7,
John 3:36, Eph. 2:3, 1 Thess. 1:10). They were saved by grace through faith in
the person of Jesus Christ; because He, as Saviour of the world, paid the
penalty for sin.
Have we read and not
perceived that Jesus Christ was the antitype, the fulfillment of “the burnt
offerings,” and “the offerings made by fire?” Those offerings were on the
fire of the altar, of which God said, “The fire shall ever be burning upon
the altar; it shall never go out” (Lev.
6:13). The “ever burning” fire of their altar of sacrifice was a
type of the everlasting destruction - “the fire that never shall be
quenched” (Mk. 9:43-48). Christ
paid the penalty for sin by bearing the penalty upon Himself. How could a
thrice holy God be just in justifying the ungodly by grace without Christ
bearing the same guilt and penalty due them? If Christ did not go to hell nor
pay the penalty of hell, on what basis can we claim that Christ died for us,
took our place, took what we deserved, or paid the penalty for sin? Was the
penalty of the wrath of God in hell, which was sentenced upon fallen man, not
paid? Did Christ not pay that penalty? A token payment or a symbolic payment is
woefully insufficient. Full payment was required and Christ paid it all! Praise
the Lord! Matt. 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice, saying, E’li, E’li, la’ma sa-bach-tha’ni? that is to say, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?
(NIV commentary notes under Matt. 27:46)
“Jesus
was not questioning God; he was quoting the first line of Psalm 22 - a deep
expression of the anguish he felt when he took on the sins of the world, which
caused him to be separated from his Father. This was what Jesus dreaded as He
prayed to God to take the cup from him (Matt. 26:39).
The physical agony was
horrible, but even worse was the period of spiritual separation from God. Jesus
suffered this double death so that we would never have to experience eternal
separation from God.”
Christ’s Death,
More Than Physical
On the mount of
transfiguration, Moses and Elias appeared in heavenly glory with Christ in His
altered countenance and glistering white raiment and spoke of his decease
which he should accomplish in
While Christ prayed in
the
After Peter had
smitten off the ear of a servant, Jesus said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot
now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions
of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must
be?”
(Matt. 26:53-54).
Christ prayed, knowing
what He would endure. His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground. He prayed, saying, “Oh my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me.”
(Matt.
26:39).
And again, “Who in
the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared;”
(Heb.
5:7).
Christ’s
death was not an ordinary physical death by crucifixion. Christ was the
propitiation for the sins of the whole world. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son to die for us - the death which was sentenced upon
Adam’s fallen race.
Christ
was numbered with the transgressors (Isa. 53:12), was made to be sin for us (2
Cor. 5:21), died for us (1 Cor. 15:3), descended into the lower parts of the earth
(Eph. 4:9), and His soul was made an offering for sin (Isa. 53:10). He
descended into hell, the lower parts of the earth, and the pains of hell got
hold upon Him (Psa. 116:3). He fulfilled the type of the burnt offerings and
offerings made by fire (Gen. 22:7-8), endured the wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:10), and paid the ransom price (1
Tim. 2:6) to redeem mankind (Tit. 2:14). After three days God raised Him up
from the dead, loosing the pains of death because it was not possible that he
should be holden of it (Acts 2:24), and He came forth in victory over death,
hell, and the grave (Rom. 4:25) and His soul was not left in hell (Acts 2:31).
Oh!
There are not words to properly describe the greatness, the awesomeness, the
terribleness, and the glory of such a wonderful Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
– Milton Dunavant,