Chapter 4 – HE DIED FOR YOU  

Many years back, in all the naivete of my adolescence – and I do sincerely intend no irreverence, no disrespect here, but – I would sometimes wonder, “If Jesus died for me, then how come I’m still going to die?”  I pondered further, “If the Savior died for everyone in the world, yet everybody still dies, am I missing something?”

It’s so easy to get caught up in the routine, the forms, and formalities of “doing church” that we can fail to attain to a fundamental grasp on the concept of a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Savior Son.  In the church I attended while one of the Clearasil generation, the liturgy and beauty of the service could be humbling, awe-inspiring, and at times, intimidating; but we seldom delved very deeply into theological understanding other than that Jesus died for us and now we’re all going to Heaven.  For years I wondered, What does all this have to do with me?  And just where do I slide into this picture?  I figured, if these were my own private wonderings, there likely are others who earnestly, innocently fall short in their grip of just what took place at Calvary, and exactly how does that work for me.

If we’ll always pray first for GOD’s understanding, and then turn to the Bible for His answers, He will never disappoint us.  Let’s do that now! Scripture speaks of two types of death. One, which Bible writers often refer to as a “sleep”, is the natural death that comes to everyone who draws breath from the Creator.  It’s a part of life, and one from which there will be an awakening.  According to the Bible, all alike will be resurrected.  We’ll lock down this vital fact in just a moment.

First, let’s revisit the death of Lazarus, who is actually a figure of Christ, beginning with John 11, verse 1, “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister, Martha  …   3. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, ‘LORD, behold, he whom You love is sick.’ 4. When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of GOD, that the Son of GOD may be glorified through it’… 6.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7. Then, after this, He said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ 11 … ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go that I may wake him up’… 13 However, Jesus was speaking of Lazarus’ death …  14  Then Jesus said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead.’ ”

We’re well-familiar with the joyous outcome.  Jesus arrived at the tomb wherein lay Lazarus, and there He performed before numerous witnesses the miraculous resurrection of His friend!   Moreover, this stunning event was actually a figure, or a preview, of the Resurrection of the Redeemed, which will take place at Jesus’ Second Coming.

The other type of death spoken of in Scripture is the Judgment Death, or the Second Death, which leads to eternal separation.  This is the just recompense of the unrepentant who, through the entire course of their lives, will have neglected to accept the mercy and forgiveness of GOD, which He freely offers in and through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is speaking now of two Resurrections: “Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28, 29).  Further explanation is found in Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power”. Then, Revelation 2:11 assures “He who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.”  What do you suppose “overcoming” means?  GOD’s Word always supplies the answers for the genuine seeker. (Matthew 7:7, 8)

We’re going to roll back to ancient Egypt. The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt more than 400 years when GOD dispatched Moses to secure their release and lead them to the Land that He had promised to Abraham.  But the Egyptian Pharaoh repeatedly, adamantly refused to let Israel go, so the LORD poured out plague after plague on Egypt’s Land.  Ultimately, He instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh that, if he would not relent and release GOD’s people, the LORD would strike dead the first-born of every household, of every family, of every flock, of every herd.

He then instructed Moses to have each Israelite family select a perfect, unblemished lamb, representing the coming Messiah; then slay it, and apply its blood prominently to the doorposts and lintels of their homes, symbolizing their implicit trust in GOD’s salvation through the shed blood of His anticipated Lamb.  The Judgment Angel would then “pass over” every household where he saw the blood.  Thus, the homes where the blood was applied were spared GOD’s Judgment; while those without the blood suffered the death of every first-born of that household.  That first Passover on the eve of Israel’s departure was a figure of the Final Judgment, and of our own “overcoming” by claiming the blood of GOD’s Lamb, slain for us.

Speaking of the overcomers of all the ages, John the Revelator testifies: “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 12:9-11)  Those who have received Jesus as their personal Savior, and have claimed His shed blood and His Judgment death for the remission of their sins, are “overcomers” in Christ.  Coming back now to Revelation 2:11, “He who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.”  If you claim the blood of GOD’s Lamb, and trust in His completed, finished Salvation, you need no longer fear Judgment, as you’ve already been judged in Christ at the Cross.

Witness here that promise of GOD: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)   Want more?  The whole enchilada rests in Romans 8:1, where we read: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!”   You can rest your entire case on this gem!  Share it liberally. Shout it from your rooftop!  The time is now!

I had once wondered, In exactly what way did Christ “stand in my place?”  How did He do that?  Here’s a verbal schematic of how that works: Adam, the first “representative” man, in whom was all flesh, was created in GOD’s own image, with conditional immortality.  He was genetically engineered by the Creator for the purpose of living eternally.  Had he remained faithful to GOD, and had he continued to pursue each day his unique fellowship with His Creator, he would have been blessed with unending access to the Tree of Life in that pristine Edenic environment.  However, Adam did neither of those things, and we, his generations, have followed in his footsteps.

The Apostle Paul testifies that, as a result, all humanity has fallen under the condemnation of GOD’s Law of Sin and Death, for: “All have sinned and fall short of the mark,” (Romans 3:23).  All are guilty! “There is none righteous – not one,” says Romans 3:10.   Moreover, Ezekiel 18:20 states plainly, “The soul that sins, it shall die.”  Romans 6:23 concurs: “the wages of sin is death”.  And the clincher is that GOD “… will in no wise clear the guilty.” (Exodus 34:7)   Further, “without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sin.” (Hebrews 9:22)  That’s one solemn indictment against us!

GOD’s immutable Law could not and cannot be altered, abridged, or set aside, as Jesus plainly taught: “Think not that I have come to abolish the Law. I haven’t come to destroy it, but to fulfill it.” (Matthew 5:17) “Thy Law is holy, and just, and good,” as Romans 7:12 affirms.  Surely, if the Law could have been changed, Jesus would not have had to wear our condemnation; endure those viciously brutal beatings; stand through multiple mock trials; and then go to Judgment in that Divine Class Action on behalf of Adam’s fallen generations!

We find in Acts 17:26 that GOD “…has made of one (blood) all nations …”  That word “blood” has been added, supplied by the translators; and in versions where you see it, “blood” is usually italicized.  However, either way, with or without the supplied word, we arrive at the same fundamental conclusion, which is that GOD has “made of one” all mankind; and the “one” would be Adam.  Further, we are all of Adam’s one, contiguous bloodline.  Thus, all humanity are truly one flesh, Adam’s flesh, Adam’s blood, Adam’s generations!

This is the very same “Adam’s flesh” that Jesus Christ “put on” at His Incarnation.  It’s the same “Adam’s bloodline” into which He was born as Adam-2. (Hebrews 10:5)  The Apostle Paul asserts that there is no distinction in GOD’s economy between male and female, Jew and gentile, rich and poor, free and bond; but that all are one flesh in Christ, Whom GOD, through Paul, calls “the Last Adam!”  (Galatians 3:28) (Romans 10:12)   And that just can’t be spun any other way!

The saving grace of our Abba Father, driven by His boundless love for His children, has engineered a cosmic plan of rescue from the indictment that condemns us, whereby He has put to death the entirety of Adam’s generations, the whole of Adam-1’s errant family tree, fulfilling to the jot and the tittle every requirement of His Law of Sin and Death, in Adam-2  –  that’s in Jesus Christ, the Son of Man!

Now watch this: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering and death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of GOD should taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)   All of humanity has already stood Judgment in Jesus Christ at Calvary!  A concurring power-text is found in  2 Corinthians 5:21: “He, Who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of GOD, in Him.”

Jesus, wearing Adam’s carnality, your humanity, assumed your identity and became, as Paul writes, “the Last Adam.” (1 Corinthians 15:45)   He endured your Judgment at the Cross, experienced your Second Death, and died as you, as every man and woman, as every soul who has ever borrowed breath from The Author of Life!

Paul, in the Spirit, calls it as it is: “… since One died for all, then all died.”  (2 Corinthians 5:14)   It’s so much greater than “One died on behalf of others.”  All were in Christ; therefore, “All died in Him!”  He satisfied the claims of the Law, and humankind was judged and executed in Jesus.  Paul’s testimony is: “I am crucified with Christ, and yet I live; not I, but Christ Who lives within me!” (Galatians 2:20)

That’s precisely what transpired at Calvary!  Jesus was “we”, and as Adam’s generations, “we” died in the Body of Christ.  It’s plausible, possible, and factual, in that we are the Body of Christ!.  Paul says, “For we are members (components) of His body, and of His flesh, and of His bones.”  (Ephesians 5:30)   Paul writes to the church at Colossi, “He is the head of the body, the church”. (Colossians 1:18)   We, His Church, are His Body, of which He is our Living Head!

Flash a moment on this:  Jesus, the Second Corporate Man, the Last Adam, is the only Man ever to walk this earth Who was born for the specific purpose of dying!  His primary mission, right from His Incarnation, was to go to Judgment in the place of fallen mankind.  First promised after the Fall in Eden, this Truth was then demonstrated, illustrated, and reinforced continually, daily, through 1500 years of the history of the Early Church, right up to that darkest hour at the Passover Evening Sacrifice, more than 2000 years ago.

Christ’s destiny was to make payment in full on our blood-debt, whereby redeeming everything that had been lost in the First Adam.  Jesus’ mission became a completed, historical fact when He cried out in victory from His Wooden Tower, “It is finished!”  (John 19:30)

Here’s His assurance to you: “If the Son of Man makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)   Through His death and resurrection, Jesus has conquered the grave and overcome the world for you!  Some time back, Evangelist James Rafferty wrote, “We do not gain the victory; we are united with the Victor!”  He has already gained complete victory for us.  In our Victor, Jesus Christ, and only in Him, is life eternal, (1 John 5:11, 12)   One over-arching question summons us from Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation?”

In closing, wonder no more how and why Jesus died for you, because the death of Jesus on that barren hill at Golgotha was verily your own eternal separation death, your final, “Second Death”, which is the just deserts of all sinners. (Revelation 2:11)   It is finished.   Make it yours!

Most merciful Heavenly Father – All thanksgiving and praise are Yours for Your wondrous Plan of Salvation, whereby in the Person of Your Son, Jesus, You died the Second Death for me; and on the Cross of Calvary, You reconciled me unto Yourself.  I gratefully accept all of it, and praise You for Your love toward me, and toward all who at one time neither loved You nor knew You.  In the holy name of Jesus, my Victorious Savior, I pray. – Amen!