1. Death is birth into eternity
Eternity is life in another realm where flesh and blood cannot exist
Life in eternity has a different purposes than in this world.
So those who enter into eternity have to leave behind this flesh and
blood in this world.
The
only way to enter into the eternal life is the transformation of this body of
flesh and blood.
Death is only a process of shedding flesh and blood and inheriting
another that is eternal.
John 12:23-25
23 And
Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man will be
glorified.
24 Truly,
truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 The one who loves his
life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world preserves it for
eternal life.
What did he mean when
he said that one must hate himself?
The expression to
hate something often meant to prefer less.
Jesus says that
nothing should get in the way of our preferring him and the will of our Father
in heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:50-55
50 But
I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom
of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruptibility.
51 Behold,
I tell you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in
a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For
it is necessary for this perishable body to put on incorruptibility, and this
mortal body to put on immortality.
54 But
whenever this perishable body puts on incorruptibility and this mortal body
puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: “Death is
swallowed up in victory.
55 Where,
O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
Eternal
life with Christ and the inheritance of God’s kingdom will require a heavenly
spiritual body like Christ’s.
The
perishable body of human existence will be replaced.
Christ reverses the mortality and grants immortality, with which God
created them to enjoy.
1 Corinthians 15:55
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
Paul
quotes Hosea
13:14 to taunt death on account of Christ’s victory.
Hosea
13:12-15
12 The
iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come
upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the
breaking forth of children.
14 I will ransom them from the
power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy
plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine
eyes.
15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come,
the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall
become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of
all pleasant vessels. (KJV)
Our hope is in Paul's
reminder that
1
Corinthians 15:42 "What is sown in the earth
is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible".
John 3:4-7
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
(KJV)
Which is
born of the flesh is flesh.
‘Born
again’ is a spiritual experience of shedding a life of flesh and blood.
When we
are born again, we, by faith, accept a transformed body.
The
consummation of the process comes by the transformation of the physical body.
2. Death is growth by multiplying
John 12:23-25
23 And Jesus answered them,
saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man will be glorified.
24 Truly,
truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears
much fruit.
25 The one who loves his life
loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world preserves it for eternal
life.
What can a grain of
wheat tell us about life and the kingdom of God?
Jesus drew his
parables from the common everyday circumstances of life.
His audience, rural
folk in Palestine, could easily understand the principle of new life produced
by dead seeds sown into the earth.
What is the spiritual
analogy which Jesus alludes to?
Is this, perhaps, a
veiled reference to his own impending death on the cross and resurrection?
Or does he have
another kind of "death and rebirth" in mind for his disciples?
Jesus, no doubt, had
both meanings in mind for his disciples.
A grain of wheat is
not a worthless thing for the farmer.
The farmer keeps the
best from his previous harvest as seed for the sowing.
His hope for a bright
future solely depends on the grain.
A grain of wheat is
not valuable unless it becomes something else.
Jesus is willing to
suffer for the cause God has set before Him.
He suggests that His
value is substantially less if He is unwilling to follow through on God’s will.
The image is a
metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection.
Jesus also promises that we will bear much
"fruit" for him, if we choose to deny ourselves for his sake.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have it more abundantly. (KJV)
The story starts with
the crucifixion
The three and a half
years of Jesus ministry is only a prologue to the real story.
On the day of
Pentecost, as described in Act 2, Peter delivered a short meaningful message.
And three thousand people
accepted Jesus, baptized and joined the Church.
The seed that was
dead, buried and resurrected started bearing fruit.
Die to ourselves
What does it mean to
"die" to oneself?
It certainly means
that what is contrary to God's will must be "crucified" or "put
to death".
The death of the old
man in us will give birth to a new man who will further bear fruit a hundred
fold.
This is the power of
cross and the transformation by His Spirit.
3. Death
is victory
Jesus’ death is not a defeat, it was a victory
He ended His life as a winner not as a victim.
The suffering and crucifixion of Christ was a triumph.
The first Gospel writer, Mark, was careful
to present it as a triumph.
He chose, arranged and presented the trial
and crucifixion events as a parallel to the Roman Via Triumph.
Mark’s gospel was probably written for
gentile Christians living in Rome.
Mark’s contemporaries might well have
grasped a pattern of meaning that has gone unrecognized by modern Bible
commentators.
In Mark’s gospel, the crucifixion
procession is a kind of Roman triumphal march, with Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa replacing the Sacra Via of Rome.
The Latin word Via Sacra (Sacred Road) was the main
street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through
some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest
street), to the Colosseum.
The road was part of the traditional route of
the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through
the Roman Forum.
The Latin word Via Dolorosa (Way of
Grief, Way of Sorrows, Way of Suffering or simply Painful Way) is a street, in
two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus
walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.
Mark presents Jesus’ defeat and death,
the moment of his greatest suffering and humiliation, as both literally and
figuratively a triumph.
Even
prior to Mark’s gospel (before about 70 A.D.), Christ was understood as a
triumphator.
Mark
and Paul (Colossians
2) presents a parallelism between the events in the spiritual realm
and the earthly realm.
For
them whatever happens on the earth happens in the spiritual realm.
The
more important is the happening in the spiritual realm.
“All
truth is parallel. That means that whatever is happening over here in the
natural world is also happening in a similar manner in the spiritual world.”-
Morris Cerullo.
Colossians 2:13-15
13 And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 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;
15 And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them
in it. (KJV)
The
terms used in this verse are all military.
Christ
has completely subdued our enemies by his death.
A
complete victory was achieved by his death.
Everything
is now in subjection to him, and we have nothing to fear.
Christ
made a show of the defeated enemy openly.
As a
conqueror, returning from a victory, displays in a triumphal procession the
kings and princes whom he has taken, and the spoils of victory.
This
was commonly done when a "triumph" was decreed for a conqueror.
On
such occasions, it sometimes happened that a considerable number of prisoners
were led along amidst the scenes of triumph.
Paul
says that this was done "openly, that is, it was in the face of the whole
universe
It was
a grand victory; a glorious triumph over all the powers of hell.
It
does not refer to any public procession or display on the earth.
But to
the grand victory as achieved in view of the universe, by which Christ, as a
conqueror, dragged Satan and his legions at his triumphal car.
Paul and the via triumph
2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8
6 For
I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
7 I have fought the good fight, I
have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Now there is in store for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his
appearing. (NIV)
Mark 15:21-24
21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon,
the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the
country, and they forced him to carry the cross.
22 They brought Jesus to the place
called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).
23 Then they offered him wine mixed
with myrrh, but he did not take it.
24 And they crucified him. Dividing
up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, or
more simply the Capitolium, was the terminus of every Roman triumph.
The procession would wind through the
streets to the Forum, culminating in the ascent of the triumphator to the place
of sacrifice—the place named after a death’s-head.
Golgotha was the Capitolium (head) to
which the triumphator ascended.
Before reaching Golgotha, the soldiers
offer Jesus myrrhed wine.
But Jesus refuses to drink.
The supreme moment of the Roman Via Triumph
is the moment of sacrifice
Just prior to the sacrifice of the
bull, or in a few cases simultaneous with the sacrifice, the triumphator was
offered a cup of wine.
He would refuse it and then pour on the
altar (or, more rarely, on the bull itself).
The wine obviously signifies the
precious blood of the victim, the bull for the sacrifice.
Similar dress is worn by both the
triumphator and the bull.
The bull is the god who dies and
appears as the victor in the person of the triumphator.
At the crucial moment of a triumph, the
moment of sacrifice, expensive wine is poured out.
Mark 15:33-37
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
34 And at three in the afternoon
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema
sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?”).b
35 When some of those standing near heard this,
they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled
a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to
drink. “Now leave
him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
(NIV)
John 19:28-30
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been
finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they
soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and
lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit. (NIV)
The final Victory
Christ
has achieved for us such a victory, and has subdued all the foes of man.
We
are not be led captive.
We
should regard ourselves as freemen.
We
should not be made again the slaves of custom, or habit, or ritual observances,
or superstitious rites, or anything whatever that has its origin in the kingdom
of darkness.
We
are bound to assert and to use our freedom, and should not allow any hostile
power, in the form of philosophy or false teaching of any kind, to plunder or
"spoil" us.
The
Christian is a freeman.
His
great Captain has subdued all his enemies.
We
should not allow them again to set up their dark empire over our souls.
4.
The
tree is a blessing
Deuteronomy 21:22, 23
22 And if a man have committed a sin
worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23 His body shall not remain all
night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is
hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the
LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
"He that is hanged is accursed of God;"
It is the highest degree of disgrace and reproach.
Those who see a man thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude
him abandoned
by God and man, and unworthy of either.
Among the Romans, in after ages, they hanged heinous criminals, or
rather fastened to the tree alive.
Such was the cruel death of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Christ underwent this execrable punishment, and be made a curse for us.
He was taken down from the cursed tree and buried in the evening.
Galatians 3:13, 14
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (KJV)
5.
Wounds
are healing
Isaiah 53:4, 5
4 Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed. (KJV)
1Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripes ye were healed. (KJV)
And
by His stripes we are healed:
Here, the prophet sees through
the centuries to know that the Messiah would be beaten with many stripes (Mark 15:15).
More so, the prophet announces
that provision for healing is found in the suffering of Jesus, so by His stripes we are healed.
God has both aspects of
healing in view, and both our physical (Matthew 8:16-17)
and spiritual healing (1 Peter 2:24-25) is provided for by the
suffering of Jesus.
Matthew 8:14
14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he
saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left
her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
16 When
the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils:
and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17 That it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our
infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. (KJV)
1Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripes ye were healed.
6.
Death
is attraction (not repulsion)
Isaiah 53:2
2 For he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him.
3 He is despised and rejected of
men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our
faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (KJV)
John 3:14
14 And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
John 12:32, 33
32 And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This
he said, signifying what death he should die.
Isaiah 11:10 There
shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ENSIGN of the people, to it
shall the GENTILES seek, and his rest shall be glorious."
There is
an allusion here to the ensigns or colours of commanders of regiments, elevated
on high places, on long poles, that the people might see where the pavilion of
their general was, and so flock to his standard.
Romans 15:10
10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye
Gentiles, with his people.
11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all
ye people.
12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he
that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
Numbers 21:4-9
4 And they journeyed from mount
Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the
people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have
ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread,
neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for
we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he
take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it
shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it,
shall live.
9 And Moses made
a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
7.
Death
is the beginning of the Kingdom (the final confirmation)
Kingdom is the cross
The cross is the Kingdom – in disguise!
On the cross, God in Christ conquered
sin, defeated death, and triumphed over Satan.
Sounds like a Kingdom victory.
Jesus triumphed over God’s enemies and
ours, and shares that victory with those who believe.
Jesus is Christus Victor!
By means of this victory, we are
restored to God and our true purposes as human beings.
It is the mystery of the Kingdom that
makes us new creatures in Christ.
Jesus purchases the kingdom.
Through his victorious death and
resurrection, Jesus redeems the kingdom.
As he satisfies the wrath of God poured out
for those who rebel against his rule.
Jesus defeats Satan, sin, and death (Colossians
2:14-15).
He overcomes the world, the flesh, and the
Devil by destroying
the power of the kingdom of darkness.
By purchasing a kingdom people at the cross,
Jesus proves himself to be the rightful ruler of the restored kingdom.
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