EB 11:4{Fair as the first creation was, affording everything for man's need and happiness, there was the possibility of losing it all through disobedience. God allowed man to be tested. He lost his paradise, probably soon after he received it. The immediate cause of his fall was very much like that of his tempter's—"He abode not in the truth." Satan came in to ruin the creation which God had set up for man. All of the peace, joy, rest, tranquility, the capacity for enjoying good, was affected by sin. The power found in Satan's hand may well arouse us to a sense of our helplessness. He has the power of death and the grave. Since that day millions—yea, billions -lie in death, fallen under Satan's power. Besides that, "The whole world lieth in wickedness." Death threw its pall over the entire creation, leaving the curse upon the ground. Of man it was said, "He died.... he died.... he died." Today two persons pass into eternity every second. What an awful thought! What shall I do? How can I escape it?
There is a company who shall escape death, actual physical death—those who are Christ's at His coming. All those who die in Christ shall be raised to be caught up with the living of whom we have just spoken. As man begets children, he leaves a race in this world like its fallen head -lost. All are lost until they are saved. Lost! This is your case if outside of Christ. The only prospect that you have is death, and remember—"after death the judgment."
Not only did sin leave man subject to death physically, but also a moral derelict, his mind being at enmity with God—not one thought except evil: morally wrong. If there is to be blessing, there must be new birth; also every thought must be brought to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
The only deliverance from death, moral or physical, is through the substitutional death of another. This Jesus accomplished for those who trust Him. It is true that all who are trusting in Christ and living at the time of His coming will not pass through physical death. All those who are Christ's but in their graves shall be raised, and the living will join them. All will be changed and given a body like unto His body of glory. This will be complete final deliverance when we shall no longer be encumbered with these bodies of clay, nor the old nature, but we shall be dwelling in a building of God, eternal in the heavens and incorruptible.
Since sin came in, this world has gradually become a colossal graveyard. (No one but God knows how many now lie in death.) The time will come when death and the grave will be destroyed—gone forever; but those who are holden by it at that time will be cast into the lake of fire, to physically and mentally undergo the judgment of eternal fire (Rev. 20:11-15). At least 1000 years before this, the last person having a part in the first resurrection will already have been raised and will be at home in heaven (Rev. 20:4). Those living on earth at the time death is destroyed will continue to live eternally upon the new earth, sharing common joys with those in heaven (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 21:1-8). Have these truths no voice for us? Are you saved? Is your destiny secure? Death will bring you no nearer the solution except to fix your destiny forever. There is no second chance. "If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." Eccl. 11:3.
Forever! Oh, forever!
Consider it, my soul;
The fire still is burning
As endless ages roll.
Is rest secure and waiting,
Or conscience stained with blight?
Has each account been settled
Ere your spirit takes her flight?
Only by trusting in the finished work of Christ, His death for us on the cross, can you rest secure, as thoughts of eternal judgment roll over your soul.
The first thing to know is how to satisfy a holy God in order that one will not have to stand before the great white throne. Only those who have been morally, spiritually dead will be there. The rest will already be enjoying their eternal portion. The Passover is a fit picture of how God can be satisfied. Every household which had the blood of the slain lamb in a basin and had applied it with hyssop to the lintel and doorposts of the house was secure from judgment. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." When God saw Jesus die on the cross and the blood flow forth, He passed over all who believe His Word. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:22.
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." This has been borne out in our subject of death—that a sacrifice must be made to God in our stead or we will remain under judgment. This sacrifice must be perfect, for God cannot accept anything but a perfect offering.
Though sheltered by the blood from the judgment of Egypt, still the power of sin was there—Pharaoh and all his hosts. The victory at the Red Sea sets before us the death of Christ. Here it was a question of the power of sin. When Christ died, not only did the blood satisfy the claims of a holy God, but His death once and for all met the combined power of Satan and death. This is deliverance through death—the death of Christ.
The Word of God tells us that Christ tasted death for everything (Heb. 2:9 J.N.D. Trans.). We have spoken of the individual man; also Christ bought the entire creation (Rom. 14:9). The heavens and earth shall be shaken and changed. He will reconcile heaven and earth to Himself so they can be inhabited forever in a state that cannot see corruption.
If man should leave his present habitation and finally plant his feet upon another planet, he will verify, as he already suspects, that the reception will be most inhospitable. God never prepared the present heaven for man. The new heaven will not be for flesh and blood; life in the spirit will be the order there. Admission to those ethereal realms will require celestial preparation. For the believer the death of Christ severs all relation to Adam and earth. The resurrection brings the believer into new creation and thus prepared for the new heavens. There he shall enjoy forever without interruption a place where all things are new and of God, in a body incorruptible. Man's mind cannot follow here; only faith in God's Word will do until faith turns to sight.
In the meantime man with his schemes will knock in vain at the portals of heaven only to lose it all and in the end slip away into outer darkness forever with the devil and his angels, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. These are called the infernal regions—never to be reconciled. "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils."
The introduction of Christianity on the day of Pentecost not only provided man with a release from guilt but opened heaven to him as his destiny, providing he own himself a sinner and put his trust in the Lord Jesus as his Savior. This offer on the ground of simple faith in God's Word religious man scorns; but he is still attempting to take the heavens by force. This will lead into the final apostasy-religious, political, and social (Jude 6), as the beast and false prophet join forces with the ten kings to attack the Lamb as He comes forth from an opened heaven to establish His kingdom on the earth (Rev. 19:19).
What a specter—DEATH! Only those working with the sick and dying or dead, steeling their feelings and thoughts, escape in measure the reality of death. The world is trying vainly, by pleasure, sense-deadening drugs, and alcohol, to flee its awful reality. Why? Because that silent monitor, Conscience, which never leaves, night and day, causes the word to ring constantly in the ear, "After death the judgment." Will education relieve guilt? What about your sins? Your reason leaves you in atheism, agnosticism, or infidelity—temporary hiding-places. "God requires that which is past." As man plunges into adventure, research, and philanthropy, subconsciously it is only to drown the awful reality of death and its fruits. "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." "He that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy." The ostrich may cover his head in the sand, but it will not hide him from his enemies. Neither will the denial of a fact change the consequence. Such thinking will only prove the words of Psa. 53 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Since the way is strait, Scripture says, "Few there be that find it." How much more serious, then, for those who have approached it to turn again to their sins, leaving Christ.
It is a believer and a believer only who can sing as he passes into the unseen world. The dark traditions of man's religions give no certain hope, peace, or joy in the prospect of death. The word that fills the heart of the believer with peace is, "To depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." Would you exchange the certainty of a living faith for the uncertainty of man's reasonings based upon nothing but a corrupted mind? You are at the crossroads between life and death. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Josh. 24:15.
I came to certain roads that cross,
My choice I now confess;
The one shall lead me into life,
The last—the second death.
If a believer should die, he is promised a resurrection unto life and incorruptibility of body. What can an unsaved man expect? A place where the "worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." He will be cast into the lake of fire—body, soul, and spirit. Such is death and its consequences!
God has made provision for man so that none need be lost. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." All are lost now except those who have identified themselves with Christ in His death (Rom. 10:9).
In Heb. 9:16, "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." "Christ died for our sins." Our inheritance was secured by Christ's death.
Friend, what is your prospect? Is it death or life? Are you sure of your destiny, or are you on a vast uncharted sea with no certain port?
Take Christ today and secure your eternal DESTINY with Christ, in the Father's house, with an incorruptible body and a new life in a new place, where all things are of God and where He has reconciled us to Himself according to His own will, counsels, and purposes in Christ—in heaven.
Deliverance for Those Who Have Received Christ but Still Feel Bound to Keep the Law of Moses to Secure Eternal Life or As a Standard for the Christian Life, We Would Now Make a Few Remarks.
Scripture says, "In Adam all die." "The wages of sin is death." The death of Christ ends all guilt for the believer. Christ took our place in death and also resurrection; therefore, in believing in Him we have justification of life. Christ is the Head of a new race for us who believe. We are no longer in Adam, but we are now in Christ (Rom. 5:12-21). All that belonged to Adam in his fallen state belongs to his children. Thus the Spirit of God reasons in righteousness that what belongs to Christ, the Head of a new race, belongs to His children. Death has completely severed our connection with the race of Adam, and now we are joined to another. Here we see plainly that Christ replaces Adam.
The next aspect of deliverance is from the power of sin. This is not so much the subject of our position in Adam or Christ but the place sin has in authority over us (Rom. 6). Here the Spirit of God shows plainly that "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." It was the perfect, righteous, spiritual law that condemned us, but here we are told that belonging to Christ we are no longer under it. We are not under law, but grace. We are no longer debtors to sin. The death of Christ has made the change; death is the end of the old.
The next point to notice is what the law has to say to sin in the flesh. Am I to go about with the sense of condemnation because of this body of sin in which I am found? No! Death breaks the tie of marriage, and the law cannot say anything to a dead man (Rom. 7). Christ has raised the dead man through His death and resurrection; now there is a new principle of life that completely controls the man instead of the old principle of sin and death. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1-4.
Thus we are delivered through death -the death of Christ. The quickened soul who believes this can say, "I am saved," and because he now has the Spirit of God indwelling, he is sealed until the day of the redemption of the body (Eph. 1:13), and he can cry, "Abba Father," as well.
In peace may I resign my breath,
And Thy salvation see;
My sins deserved a second death,
But Jesus died for me.