Measure Upon Measure – Death – The Restoration Of God - Part 11 (Section 3) Series

MEASURE UPON MEASURE – DEATH – THE RESTORATION OF GOD - Part 11 (Section 3)

The firth consequence of sin is death. We were looking at how Christ made that His own so He could redeem through His blood. We continue with this theme of Christ becoming sin for us in this section 3.

When we think about the Saviour’s Road in this consequence of sin; the great things He did for us in love, and His identification with us; when we consider what He became for us, there are TWO MORE PASSAGES that need to be examined.

(a). In Romans 5:6-10 Paul wrote the first one to explain this further:.

6. {{“For while we were STILL HELPLESS, at the right time CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY.

7. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for a good man someone would dare even to die.

8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, CHRIST DIED FOR US.

9. Much more then, having now been JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

10. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through THE DEATH OF HIS SON, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”}}

Verses 6 and 8 state the timing of Christ’s death. He did not wait for us to improve ourselves for that was impossible, but His death is totally applicable for us while we were there in the thick of sin, down there in the gutter, unable to rise any higher. It was then He identified with us; it was then He died in our stead. He made our deserved death His own. We were guilty, vile and helpless, but Christ reached out to us because the love and grace and mercy and compassion of God are just so beyond our limited human understanding. Christ died for sinners, that is, HE DIED FOR ME! He took ALL my sin as my perfect Substitute on the cross.

Glory, glory everlasting

Be to Him who bore the cross,

Who redeemed our souls by tasting

Death, the death deserved by us.

Spread His glory, spread his glory,

Who redeemed His people thus. (Thomas Kelly)

Verse 10 in the Romans passage informs us too that our sin had made us the enemies of God, but while we were enemies, our Mediator died for us, in our place. Greater love has no man if he is prepared to lay down his life for his friends, but what a contrast this is, for He laid down His life for His enemies! That He did for us. That verse also says, “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Jesus Christ died, the Son’s sacrifice before the Father, for our reconciliation. Everlasting salvation is built on reconciliation.

Sin necessitated the death of the sinner. It was the automatic consequence that we would die for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ went before us, taking our place so now no requirement of death remains for us. The demands of sin’s penalty have been wholly satisfied. He died to sin once and the sacrifice continues forever efficacious. Death has no more claim over us. He smashed the bondage and worked a mighty deliverance.

Paul in Hebrews clearly states this for his readers: {{Hebrews 2:14-15 “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil; and MIGHT DELIVER THOSE who through fear of death were subject to SLAVERY all their lives.”}} Yes, Jesus was into the redemption of slaves long before Wilberforce. He has smashed the power of the slavery of death. We rise up in freedom, the chains having been broken into dust, and we go forth in the liberty of the new life in Christ.

It was not merely the death of Christ which saved us. In fact His death in isolation would never have saved us. What occurred BEFORE His death has saved us. The whole righteous demands of God were satisfied when He bore our sins and became the guilty One along with the other consequences examined in previous chapters, and was therefore punished.

Before He dismissed His spirit He cried, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). All the work at that point had been completed; the wrath of God was expended; the victory had been claimed. His physical death, not from man, but of Himself, followed naturally because the sacrifice always died, but the great salvation work was done prior to His own dismissal of His life/spirit. This truth is further confirmed by a verse in the gospel of {{John 19:28, “After this, Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”}}