Several have been interested in our recent mention of “the second death,” and have written with questions. It is indeed a topic of intense interest.
Maybe we can summarize what we find in the Bible about it: (a) Whatever death that Jesus died on His cross, it was the death that He saved us from having to die. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). What kind of death did He die? That will answer our question. (b) What kind of death is “the wages of sin” of Romans 6:23? That was the death that He died for us. (c) That death He died on the cross could not have been the mere sleep for a weekend (He died about 3 p.m. Friday, then arose early Sunday morning). The death of the cross was terribly painful, and Jesus felt it all to the full; but that pain was not all that He suffered on that cross! (d) What He felt to the full was “the curse of God” that Moses had said everyone will experience who dies on a tree (please read Deuteronomy 21:21-23). Moses said that only as a prophecy of Christ; ordinary people who died on a tree could of course repent if they chose. (e) When Jesus on His cross cried out, screamed out, “My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” He was experiencing to the full that “forsakenness” curse of God that should have been ours. No other human in all history has ever died that kind of curse-laden death! Even the most terrible sinner has always had some light, some hope of forgiveness and salvation—like the repentant thief who asked Jesus “Remember me!” (f) The “breadth, and length, and depth, and height [of the love] of Christ” is infinite in its dimensions (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19). (g) Just so were the dimensions of the death that Jesus died on His cross. (h) He “was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of ... that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). (i) “The death of every man” is not a quiet restful sleep for a weekend! (j) Peter said that when Christ died on that cross, He went all the way to hell: speaking of Jesus, he said, “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell” (Acts 2:26, 27). God couldn’t do that! Jesus was totally innocent of sin! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
