God's Plan To Do Away With Death: Part Three - 12:38 PM, 7/2/2008 |
Bernard Pyron Christ Suffered To Pardon His People Isaiah 53: 11-12 says "He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 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." "He shall see the travail of his soul" and "he hath poured out his soul unto death." Christ suffered in his soul as well as in his body to pardon those who accept him and his atonement for them on the cross. He gave up his life and poured out his soul. Psalm 22: 14 says "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Christ saw the suffering he was to endure before it happened was was satisfied that his suffering would bring salvation and life to many sinners. "He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied..." The Lord felt physical pain from being beaten and nailed to the cross and when the Father forsook him while he was nailed on the cross (Matthew 27: 46), he felt spiritual pain. He was verbally attacked and severely beaten with many blows, was scourged, and his wrists and feet were pierced by nails. In his terrible suffering he bore the sins of many. If we had borne our own sins, we would spend eternity in hell. The travail of his soul came on Jesus five or six days before the crucifixion. In John 12: 27 he said "Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: But for this cause came I unto this hour." He was in agony, knowing what great suffering was before him when he was at the Mount of Olives (Luke 22: 39). Luke 22: 44 reports that "...being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." He began to dread in agony the afflictions which he knew were to happen to him soon. He endured his troubled soul to remove the troubles and punishment in store for our souls. "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour..." He was struggling between knowing he must carry out the work of redemption for which he came to earth, and finding some way to be saved from the severe suffering to come. He emptied himself out of love for the Father who sent him and for us who he came to redeem. In his agony in the Garden (Luke 22: 44) he anticipated the afflictions he must feel in a few days. In humiliation and in the weakness of man's flesh, he spiritually encountered Satan - who may have thought Christ was at a great disadvantage. Yet Christ conquered Satan. Paul in I Corinthians 2: 2 reveals that "...I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Galatians 6: 14 says "But 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." Paul wanted to find glory only in Christ crucified and rejected making the things of this world of value to him. One reason Paul found his glory in the cross was because the cross took him out of obsession with the flesh and worldly affairs. The way to reduce one's concern with one's flesh and the world is to study - as well as have faith in - the cross of Jesus Christ, for the flesh and one's attachment to the world are often subject to the temptations and tribulations brought on by Satan. The more we think about the suffering of Christ before and at the time of the crucifixion, the less likely is the world to allure us. Again, in I Corinthians 1: 18 Paul reminds us of the importance of the cross. He says "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." People who seek and accept Christ and receive a love of the truth and some of Christ's righteousness (Philippians 3: 9) discern more of the mysterious power of God than those who reject the Lord. For his work on the cross removed in large part our slavery to our sin nature, and took some of the scales off of our spiritual understanding. To the believer, the cross is no longer a stumbling block. When he suffered and died he had all the sins and sin nature of his people on him. He took all our sins to the cross and there received the punishment due to us and so pardoned us in order to make us acceptable to God. He made us the sons of God for the glory of God. In commenting on the Lord's Supper in I Corinthians 11: 25 Paul says "And after the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." We owe a debt to Christ's blood and in the Lord's Supper we remember the importance of his blood for our salvation, and being set free from the death sentence by his suffering, death and blood. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate (Hebrews 13: 12)." By his suffering and through his own blood, Christ sanctified "the people." That is, his suffering and spilling of blood did away with our condemnation for sin. "The people" are those who value and accept his pardon of their death sentence for sin; they are the peculiar people, given to him by the Father. Christ's suffering and blood also made it possible for believers to become free from the bondage to sin, though they sometimes still sin. He "suffered without the gates" means he was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem. In I Peter 3: 18 Christ "...hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." He suffered for the sins of those who were to want his pardon for sin. His suffering, both before and at the time of the crucifixion, freed us from our deserved punishment. That suffering and death, performed only once, was acceptable to God to bring us to eternal glory in Christ. He suffered to remove the sting of physical death, to do away with the second death, and to bring us to God. Those who do not accept Christ's pardon will remain under the sentence of death and the wrath of God. "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh ceased from sin. That he no longer should longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God (I Peter 4: 1-2)." We are to take on the mind of Christ and overcome the flesh so that we are no longer slaves to the desires of the flesh and of the world. Christ Defeated Physical and Eternal Death The Lord's death on the cross made it possible for him to abolish physical and eternal death, which is the second death (Revelation 2: 11, 20: 6, 20: 14, 21: 8). It also allowed him to triumph over sin, the cause of death, and to have victory over the devil who is the agent of death. Psalm 68: 20 affirms "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death." "For unto God the Lord belong the issues from death?" Isaiah just said he "is the God of salvation," so we might know that "issues from death" has something to do with setting free God's people from death. But lets look into "issues from death." Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says "issues" is from the Hebrew word totsaah, or number 8444. There is a very similar Hebrew word, yatsa, number 3318. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, by R. Laird Harris et al, 1981, Volume One, p. 893 says totsaah was used to refer to the Exodus from Egypt. Yet in Exodus 12: 51, where it says that "And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring (yatsa) the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies." So apparently totsaah and yatsa have almost the same meaning. Isaiah 42: 7 says "To open the blind eyes, to bring (yatsa) out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." Yatsa can mean bring out, a going out, outgoing. escape... (The Hebrew Lexicon of Brown, Driver, Brigg and Gesenius). "Issues from death" of Psalm 68: 20 might be read "...unto God the Lord belongs deliverance from death." On the subject of God's plan to do away with death, Isaiah 25: 8 says "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it." Revelation 21: 4 agrees saying "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and there shall be no more death..." Here is the future fulfillment of God's plan to abolish death for his people. Revelation 1: 18 says the Lord has the keys of hell and of death. Christ overcame physical and eternal death, and can now in righteousness free us from the second death. God will take away the rule of Satan and death from his people. Because God the Son allowed himself to suffer and die and let death rule over him in part for three days, we are made free from the second death. Isaiah 25: 8 is an explicit prophecy of salvation from eternal death. Paul cites this text in I Corinthians 15: 54, "Death is swallowed up in victory." Peter remarks that the prophecy on salvation was something which "...the prophets have enquired and searched diligently... (I Peter 1: 10)." Peter told the Jews at the temple after the healing of the lame man that "...Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you (Deuteronomy 18: 15-18). And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days (Acts 3: 22-24)." The King James for Deuteronomy 18: 15 says "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken." Note that Moses says the prophet will be of "thy brethren," and then says he will be "like unto me." "Me" here may very well be God who is speaking through Moses. Those who do not accept Christ, including the Jews who do not accept him, will spend eternity cut off from God and will experience the wrath of God. Romans 5: 9 states that "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Christ's shedding of blood saved us and did away with the wrath of God upon us because of our sin. Going on in Ephesians 2: 15- 16 Paul says "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:" Then he says "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Ephesians 2: 18)." Christ removed the sentence of death and the judgment of the law for his people. He made one people in Christ of the Jews and Gentiles who seek him and his pardon. He also overcame by the cross the enmity between God and sinners. We now have access to God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The cross of Christ gives us the Holy Spirit. "And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2: 13-15)." Jesus Christ blotted out the sentence of death, the legal charge against us, for sin; he did not do away with the moral law on the cross. He took the sins of all his people to the cross and there paid the price for them. Remember that Paul said in Ephesians 6: 12-13 that we wrestle against spiritual forces, against principalities, against powers, against the "world rulers of darkness of this world," or against the kosmokratoras tou skotous, and that we must take on the whole armor of God to be able to withstand these Satanic forces in the evil day. The principalities and powers are the fallen angels who tempt and oppress us, and some are higher level fallen angels who rule over various nations. Paul calls them the world rulers, and, of course, these fallen angels are the puppet masters of the men who are in the higher levels of the ruling elite. We wrestle against these men and their fallen angel handlers. Colossians 1: 13-14 states that "Who hath delivered us from he power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dead son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Since Christ suffered, spilled blood, and died to pardon us from our sins, we are also set free from the death penalty. Hebrews 2: 14-15 is an important promise about God's plan to get rid of death. It says "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Through his lies, the devil caused sin and then death as a consequence to happen to Adam and Eve and all their descendants, and therefore he is a murderer. Satan is the executioner of the death sentence that he caused. Christ on the cross defeated the devil and his victory over the devil will mean that Christ's people will no longer be under bondage to eternal death, or the second death. He also made it possible for us to largely escape the fear of that death. In the prophesy of Revelation 12: 11 the saints who are the remnant in the very end times "...overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." "He" is Satan. The remnant, or many in it, had overcome their attachment to the flesh and the world, and saw fully Christ's victory over death, the unfolding of God's plan to abolish death, so that it had no sting or fear for them. Almost all believers, even those of the end time remnant, will die a physical death. Prophecy seems to suggest that some of the remnant in the very last days might be saved by their being in Christ. Isaiah 26: 20 says "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." The indignation is another word for the tribulation of the final days. Revelation 12: 11 implies that some of the last day remnant will be killed, since it says they loved not their lives unto death. In addition, Revelation 20: 4 says John saw "...the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." This does not mean that those who might have in the past followed the Beast, and took his mark, meaning largely that they belonged to Satan and his Beast, could not have repented of this sin, and later be killed by the Beast for their witness of Jesus - and be there with the other saved souls under God's altar (Revelation 6: 9). We understand the Beast of Revelation 13: 1-3 to be a totalitarian government in cooperation with a criminal business and financial elite. It exists now and will exist in a more complete state later. But as Paul asks in I Corinthians 15: 55 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" The sting of death, and in large part the fear of physical death, has been removed from believers by Christ's victory over sin, death and Satan who now has the power of death. For believers, physical death is our entry into eternal life in the presence of the Lord of glory. I know though that some of us will be alive when he appears. "Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (I John 3: 2)." When we see him face to face we will be like him (Revelation 22: 4).
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