“You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” [1]
The Christian Faith is grounded in one great truth—Christ Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave through the sacrifice of His own life. The death of Jesus was not an accident, nor does His death even qualify primarily as a judicial murder (though He was indeed murdered). Nevertheless, behind the travesty of justice perpetuated by religious leaders in Judea acting in concert with the Roman overlords was the fact the Christ Jesus surrendered His life as a sacrifice because of our helpless condition. I suppose it appears as a conundrum for some that we can say that Jesus’ life was taken from Him, and yet confess that He gave His life as a sacrifice.
Jesus our Lord met the onslaught of wickedness at the Cross, conquering all hell, and all that the wicked one could throw at Him. Isaiah saw what was to take place seven hundred fifty years before it occurred. The mighty court prophet wrote,
“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
[ISAIAH 53:4-6]
“The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” That final strophe points forward to what would take place at the cross when the Son of God offered His life as a sacrifice. The Father caused all the evil, all the wickedness, all the brokenness that marks each of our lives to be poured out on His Son. This is a vivid verbal picture which has been prepared for us; each of us can understand what is taking place when we read those words. Every sin that has stained my life, every sin that has marred your life, was taken up by Jesus. At the Cross, He nailed it! And we were set free by His sacrifice. In Him, we are free to be all that the Father desires us to be. We are forever freed from sin.
The observance of Easter is not a celebration of the death of Christ Jesus the Lord. Had the Saviour sacrificed His life and then been buried, it would perhaps be a moving story, but it would be a story that would have been quickly forgotten before being lost in the dim reaches of time. However, it is precisely because Jesus, Who is the Son of God, conquered the tomb that we remember Him. He gave His life and then rose from the dead! Without His sacrifice, there would have been no resurrection; and without His resurrection, His death would ultimately have been meaningless.
WHY MUST JESUS DIE? “You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” [COLOSSIANS 2:13-15].
This text opens with the acknowledgement that each of us was dead before God. Underscore in your mind that all people, regardless of what others may think of them, were dead in the brokenness of their fallen condition. Each person stood condemned as sinful before Holy God. This was the universal condition of all mankind, and that includes all who are now redeemed. For those among us who are lost, those who have never received the Risen Saviour as Master over life, spiritual death properly describes their fallen condition. It doesn’t mean that they don’t walk and talk in the physical realm, it means that they are unconscious of God, they are dead to Him.
The spiritually dead are aware there is a God, but they do not know Him. Knowing that God exists is not the same as knowing God. You know that the Prime Minister is real, but none of you actually know the Prime Minister. There is no one among us who can pick up the phone and call the Prime Minister. That is the situation we meet in the spiritual realm. People know about God, but people don’t know God.
Like the lost of this world, we Christians, though we have been saved, were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh, just as is written in this text. Elsewhere, Paul has written, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” [EPHESIANS 2:1-3].
I know we are aware of these things. We have always been aware of good and evil, but knowing what is good and knowing what is evil has never been sufficient to turn any of us from doing what is evil. We have the knowledge of good and of evil, but we do not have the ability to choose the good or to avoid the evil. Our lives are dreadfully inconsistent in choosing to do good, and we are woefully inconsistent in turning from evil. Though we may try ever so hard to choose what is good and to eschew what is evil, we fail miserably. We ruefully admit that we do not have the ability to do good.
In biblical terms, we were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of the flesh. There is no way to mask this—WE WERE DEAD. There was no possibility that we could accomplish anything in our own strength since we were dead. We had no ability to perform any work, no ability to think, no ability to reason. Without the intervention of God’s Spirit, no individual can change his or her condition. God is, at best, a distant illusion if we are dead. There is no fatherhood of God, because we are dead.
It isn’t only that we were spiritually dead, but our trespasses, the lack of perfection in our being has condemned us to eternal separation from God Who is holy. The righteousness of the Lord is a condition that is unattainable for us—we can never be righteous, just as we can never be perfected through our own efforts. Possibly we knew of the existence of God, but we could not know Him. We hadn’t the intellectual or moral capacity to know Him. What is far worse than that is that we actually enjoyed being spiritually dead precisely because we had no consciousness of anything beyond the world of shades in which we now walk.
Because we were dead, because we were spiritually incapable of knowing God, there must be a sacrifice offered in our place. Propitiation for our sins is required, a means of making appeasement with God Who is offended by our broken condition. Without such intervention, there can never be peace with God. There must be a means of reconciling us to God while in our fallen condition. Here is the conundrum we face, if we cannot even approach God, we are incapable of accomplishing whatever is necessary if there is to be peace between us and the Lord. And yet, that is precisely what God has done for us through offering His own Son as a sacrifice because of our broken condition.
Listen as the Apostle presents a summation of all that God has done for His fallen creation. It may appear that I am jumping ahead in the message, but it is essential that we come to grips with all that God has done for us. In understanding what God has provided for broken humanity we are revealing again the necessity of what God has done. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” [ROMANS 5:1-11].
The Apostle has written elsewhere emphasising the condition that condemned us outside of God’s grace. Paul does this by speaking of the lost as Gentiles. He is not saying that Gentiles are more lost than are unbelieving Jews, he is using a generalisation to make a point. He writes, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires” [EPHESIANS 4:17-22].
We were lost. According to the Word of God we were in dire shape, condemned and separated from God. Elsewhere, Paul speaks of our condition when he writes “Remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called ‘uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘circumcision’ that is performed on the body by human hands—that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” [EPHESIANS 2:11-12 NET BIBLE].
What a description of our condition when we were in the world—having no hope and without God in the world. And that is the condition of those who have never come to faith in the Saviour. Undoubtedly, some who hear me as I speak in this message know you have no hope and know that you are without God in the world. Oh, you know there is a God, but you don’t know God. You believe there is a God, but you do not know that God. When you allow yourself to think of Him, you know that you have no relationship with Him. And when you dare think of Him, you are terrified because you know that the only thing you can say concerning your condition is that you are lost.
If there is to be hope, then someone must provide a means by which we can assuage the wrath of Holy God. If there is to be acceptance into the presence of God Who is Holy, there must be a means by which our sin is set aside and we are forgiven. Long years ago, the Court Prophet Isaiah was moved by the Spirit of God to write of the One Whom the Lord GOD would send as a sacrifice in our place. Listen to Isaiah’s words as translated into contemporary language. Feel the powerful impact of what is written.
“Who would have thought GOD’s saving power would look like this?
“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.”
[ISAIAH 53:1b-6 THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY LANGUAGE]
Jesus, God’s Anointed One, His own Son, would give His own life for broken humanity. How powerful is the knowledge that while we were doing our own thing, while we were marching to our own drummer, we were piling up sin and evil that condemned us and separated us from the mercy of God. And when we were utterly condemned by our own choices, God piled all our sins, every evil we’ve embraced, on Him. Jesus took upon Himself every sin, every wrong, every deficit, every failure, every ruinous act, every evil that has ever marked our life. If I should be turned away from the love of God, it will not be because God has not provided a means of reconciliation for me; it will be because I did not accept the grace which is extended to me in Christ Jesus.
HOW DID JESUS DIE? “You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” [COLOSSIANS 2:13-15].
People expect us preachers to speak of the crucifixion of Christ, especially at Easter. Superficially, the resurrection of our Lord is the centre of what has become another among multiplied fêtes observed within western society; but it is often forgotten that there would have been no resurrection without the death of God’s Son. And the Saviour presented Himself in the most horrific manner imaginable as a sacrifice for our sin. The Romans did not invent crucifixion, but they employed it as a means of subjugating conquered peoples. The method of execution was not to be administered to any Roman since it was seen as such a degrading death. There was no question but that one who had been crucified was dead after suffering as they did while hanging for days suspended between heaven and earth.
I am not a great fan of movies; I cannot expect people who are ignorant of God and unacquainted with righteousness to be capable of producing something pure and good. James, the half-brother of our Lord asks a question related to the origin of our language, writing, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water” [JAMES 3:11-12]. What he asked arises from something that Jesus Himself stated. The Master had said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” [LUKE 6:45]. When the life is consumed by wickedness, I would not believe that goodness can result. And consequently, I don’t expect Hollywood to produce solid pictures on biblical themes.
Despite my misgivings concerning Hollywood productions, I was persuaded to attend a showing of the movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” when it was featured in our local cinema. I suppose the movie accomplished what Mel Gibson was seeking to portray from his perspective, but I saw a torturous glorification of violence. The concept of Christ sacrificing Himself for us was not at all apparent. The emphasis was upon crucifixion, but crucifixion in itself is meaningless for us. Without the understanding that Jesus surrendered Himself to this death, it is just another account of one of the thousands of people crucified by the Romans. The emphasis of the film was on the violence inflicted on Jesus without context for why that violence was unleashed or why He would submit to the extremes of violence.
In the view of the Roman governor, Jesus of Nazareth was just another of those pesky Jews who were to be eliminated by the Roman occupiers. His death was just another incident of no major consequence during the occupation of Judea by the Romans. It is interesting to note that the Roman Authority was inclined to release Jesus of Nazareth when He was brought before the governor. The Jews who seized Jesus were unable to clearly state why He should be tried, but they nevertheless demanded that He be tried and executed under Roman law. Pilate attempted to learn more about the case by questioning Jesus as recorded in John’s Gospel. There, we read, “Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world’” [JOHN 18:33-36].
It is obvious from reading this exchange, that Pilate had no respect for the man that stood before him. He disdained Jews, and when one appeared before him who had been charged with some crime, the contempt held by the Roman governor only drew out his lack of respect. This prisoner didn’t cower before the might of Rome, which clearly irritated the governor even more than a mere Jew might otherwise annoy him.
You may recall that Pilate questioned Jesus soon after this initial exchange. Pilate had made an attempt to humiliate Jesus, delivering Him over to the soldiers who sought to demean Him through cruel, reprehensible actions. When Pilate attempted to release Jesus, the religious leaders were enraged, shouting out, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God” [JOHN 19:7]. Something in what they said terrified the Roman Governor. Thus, we are informed, “When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid” [JOHN 19:8].
Seemingly for the first time the Roman governor actually appears to make an attempt to hear Jesus. Before this, any effort to question Him was perfunctory, routine. Now, however, Pilate was disquieted, disturbed, distressed. The account that John provides informs us of the effort to learn who Jesus was. “[Pilate] entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you’” [JOHN 19:9-10]. This boisterous assertion could be understood to be an attempt to intimidate the prisoner, but the effort was met by a truly terrifying answer which Jesus gave to Pilate. Jesus cautioned the Imperial functionary, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin” [JOHN 19:11].
Jesus knew He would die, but His death would not be an accidental one. While everything points to the fact that the Jews and Romans conspired to commit a judicial murder, the death of Jesus was anything but accidental. The Son of God moved deliberately toward intentional sacrifice for His fallen creation. Listen as He instructs His disciples concerning what is coming. “The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified” [MATTHEW 20:18b-19a].
This statement is expanded as Doctor Luke relates the conversation. Luke writes, “Taking the twelve, [Jesus] said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him’ [LUKE 18:31-33a].
Pointing to His death became a theme for the Master. He wanted His disciples to be prepared for what was about to take place. Even as Jesus observed the final Pascal Meal with His disciples, He informed them, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” [MATTHEW 26:2].
Nor should anyone imagine that Jesus only began to speak of His sacrifice as He neared the cross. His speech did become clearer as He neared the cross, but He had spoken of His death throughout the days of His ministry with His disciples. For instance, at one point, we read how Jesus interacted with Nicodemus, teaching the teacher, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” [JOHN 3:13-15].
Nor were the words of the Master confined to His disciples. Speaking with hostile Jews, we witness Jesus saying, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him” [JOHN 8:28-29].
If you imagine that it was an easy task for Jesus to offer His life as a sacrifice for our sin, you would be wrong. Jesus spoke of His impending death after some Greeks had sought Him out. Jesus spoke to them as they were ushered into His presence by Andrew and Philip, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” [JOHN 12:23-27].
Death—the act of dying—was not a problem for our Lord, He struggled at the thought of being separated from the Father. The thought of bearing the sin of fallen humanity caused the Son of God to shrink in horror. None of us can enter into the thought that the sinless Son of God would experience what it meant to take upon Himself the sin of mankind. We read of Jesus’ experience as He struggled with what He knew He would face. Luke tells us, “[Jesus] withdrew from [the disciples] about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” [LUKE 22:41-44].
We read of the Saviour’s struggle before His sacrifice when one writer writes, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” [HEBREWS 5:7-9].
The sacrifice of a good person is commendable, but ultimately, such a sacrifice makes no eternal difference. Giving up one’s life so that another may live is noble, and we would each admit that such an act is rare in our world. However, the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God, was so much more than the death of a good man. If Jesus was but a mere mortal, His death, however noble, could have no lasting impact. However, He presented Himself as the Son of God, If that is accurate, then His death would be far more meaningful, far more significant, than any mortal could ever imagine.
The sacrifice of Jesus our Lord would have been meaningless save for one feature—He rose to life! Cultists dismiss the resurrection of Christ our Lord, but their puerile efforts to deny the fact that He conquered death prove futile as multitudes look in faith to this Risen Saviour and through faith in Him receive life, real life. The resurrection of Jesus our Lord was the electrifying news that penetrated the darkened world two millennia past. As the light of the message of life was shed abroad, the Faith grew and people were born again into the Family of God.
Who shall we blame for killing Jesus the Son of God? If we listen to some of the supposed thinkers of this day, it was the Jews who were responsible for killing Jesus. After all, didn’t we witness them crying out for His death? When Pilate wanted to beat Jesus of Nazareth and release Him, the chief priest and the Jewish leaders would have none of that. Thus, we read, “They all cried out together, ‘Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas’—a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them, ‘Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.’ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed” [LUKE 23:18-23].
Wait! It was the Romans who drove the spikes into His flesh. The Romans were responsible for the death of Jesus! They killed the Son of God. Roman soldiers stripped Jesus, flogged Him, and put a crown of thorns on His head. The Romans crucified the Son of God. That is what we read as Matthew tells us what happened.
Pilate washed his hands, as if that mere act could absolve him of responsibility for crucifying Jesus. And the people responded, “His blood be on us and on our children!” With that, Pilate released Barabbas, and delivered Jesus to be crucified.
Therefore, we read, “The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
“As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews’” [MATTHEW 27:24-37].
If we cannot blame the Jews and if the Romans were but instruments to ensure that Jesus died, then who bears responsibility for His death? Alaz, it must have been us. As surely as the Son of God gave His life, we were responsible. For had we been without sin, it would not have been necessary for Him to sacrifice Himself. It was us! We clamoured for the death of the Son of God. We were responsible for the death of Jesus as surely as though we were in that mob on that awful day.
WHAT DID JESUS’ DEATH ACCOMPLISH? “You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” [COLOSSIANS 2:13-15].
We might well ask, “What was accomplished at the cross? How has the Lord benefitted us in offering up His life as a sacrifice for sin?” The text informs us of several accomplishments from the Saviour’s sacrifice that benefit those whom He has redeemed. God made us alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. He cancelled the record of debt that stood against us. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, putting them to open shame. Jesus did this when He was nailed to the cross—He nailed it! Our Lord did all this for us, providing we accept what He has done. I invite you to join me as we think about these accomplishments in the order in which they are presented in the text.
The sacrifice of our Lord would have been futile had He not risen from the dead. Throughout history, multiple people have given their lives for the benefit of another. However, none of those noble deaths proved eternally effective for one simply reason—none of those who gave their lives for another ever came to life again! Jesus, the Son of God proved that He was truly the Son of God by rising from the dead! As the Apostle begins to write the Letter to the Christians of Rome, he begins by pointing to Jesus as the Risen Lord of Glory. Paul has written that Jesus of Nazareth was, “declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” [ROMANS 1:4]. What an incredibly powerful statement concerning Jesus! Those cultists who doubt that Jesus is very God must somehow explain what was accomplished in the death of Jesus of Nazareth. They must explain how the death of one insignificant Jewish man could transform the world and free those enslaved by sin. Of course, there is no explanation that will suffice if we refuse the accept the truth of the Word of God.
Here is the powerful truth that we must not miss on this day set aside for joyful commemoration. The sacrifice of Christ the Lord is meaningless if He did not rise from the dead. But Christ is risen from the dead! Isn’t that what we discover as we read the words Paul has penned in that first letter to the saints in Corinth? There, we read the thrilling words that Paul has written. “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-28].
With His death, Jesus the Son of God cancelled the debt that stood against us. Cancelling that debt, Jesus provided a way for us to be made alive to God the Father. Only if we were without sin could we be alive to the Living God, and by taking our sin upon Himself, Jesus has made it possible for God to forgive us every sin. I don’t want you to imagine that you now live a sinless life—you do not! However, you are no longer excluded from the presence of God because you no longer stand in your own righteousness when you come before Him. Now, as one who has faith in the Son of God, you stand before the Father in God’s own Son. Hallelujah!
I can never quite read the opening words of the Letter to the Ephesians without experiencing deep joy and immense gratitude to God. Listen to what the Apostle wrote. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” [EPHESIANS 1:3-14].
In Christ, we who have believed have already received all that God can bestow upon us. In fact, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We are adopted as sons, meaning that we have the inheritance of God Himself. We have redemption through the blood of Christ that was shed for us. We have the forgiveness of our trespasses. God has showered us with His grace. Now, in Christ, we who believe have been sealed with the Holy Spirit so that we are marked as belonging to God and so that we can never cease being known as His own people. Here is what I find most exciting as I read what the Apostle has written—already, you and I stand perfect in Christ. In this life we struggle because we sin, but in Christ we now stand perfect before God.
Week-by-week I cite the words of the Apostle, who wrote to the Christians then living in Rome, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” [ROMANS 10:9-13].
You will note the sacrifice of Christ is confessed, for we acknowledge that He died for us. But the resurrection of the Saviour ensures that we now have a right standing before the Father. Because Jesus, whom we confess as our Master, is risen from the dead, we have been made right with God. We are justified, and no longer under condemnation. No wonder the Easter celebration is so deeply meaningful to us who are redeemed! It is the celebration of our freedom from condemnation and our new birth into God’s Family. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
