Most Christians have come to understand and appreciate the spiritual death that occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God at the Garden of Eden but not many understand that there has also been a physical death for all of mankind.
There can be no meaningful spiritual growth until we understand and properly appropriate the death of Jesus as it relates to our lives and the entire human existence. Many have over the years seen the death of Jesus only as a substitute to pay for our sin or to bring us salvation.
This is correct but it is just half of the truth because it does not bring out the entire reality and substance of what actually happened at Calvary. If you can understand or capture what actually happened at Calvary, it will change the way you see everything in this world.
First and foremost, we need to understand that Jesus did not only die in our place or for us as we have come to understand what happened at Calvary. That is, His death is not just a substitution for the death we should have died. What happened at Calvary has much more serious impact on our lives and the whole of creation than that understanding presents.
To appreciate and see the reality of the impact on our lives we must understand the depth of what happened. The death of Jesus is both good news and bad news depending on where you are looking at it from or which side of it you are on. It is good news if you accept Gods salvation plan associated with it but it is bad news if you choose to ignore the salvation so graciously offered by God.
Now to the point, what God is saying to us is that we died with Christ at Calvary not in terms of substitution but in the real sense of the word. It is important and vital that you understand that you really died in Christ at Calvary because it will enable you to appreciate the reality of the old and the new in Christ. Now, let’s try to explain it in logical sequence: when Jesus died at Calvary, everything that was in Him died.
To appreciate this fact we must understand who He is and what was in Him. Now, remember that Jesus is the word of God that became flesh “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” ……… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:1&1:14.
Which means the person that died at Calvary was the word of God that became flesh bearing the name Jesus. The Bible also says that “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3, that means, the person who died at Calvary was the same person by whom God created all things including mankind. John 1:4 also says “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” meaning that the same person who died was the one in whom the life of mankind resided.
The bible also says “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” Colossians 1:16. The central truth of this verse is that everything that is created was created by Jesus and they belong to Him. So the person that died is the same one that owns everything that was created.
That is why the bible says he came to His own but His own did not receive Him “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” John 1:11. Now to the main point, the bible, in Colossians 1:17 says “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” The word consist means that things are held together or reside or continue in Him.
Since everything that was created was spoken into existence they are products of the word of God. We can say that the word of God (Jesus) is the spiritual material everything is made of and they are also sustained, kept and continue in Him. The central thought here is that everything that was created was created by the word of God, for the word of God and they exist and continue to function, by the same word of God, which is the same as saying, everything that was created was created by Jesus and for Jesus and they exist by him and their continuity is only guaranteed in Him.
We can therefore say that when God decided to send Jesus (His Word) into the world to die, He was putting an end to everything that was associated with the creation that began with the earth as recorded in the book of genesis. Thus at the death of Jesus, mankind and everything associated with it died.
The existence of the present world as created by God officially ended when Jesus died. The time between the death of Jesus and the eventual end of the world, as already declared in the Book of Revelation, is what the scientist call ‘the stopping distance’.
For those who may not understand the term ‘stopping distance’, it refers to the time it takes to stop a body in motion after the breaks have been applied. This principle is actually visible in all of creation. For example, if you cut a branch from a tree, the branch does not die instantly rather death will begin to show on the branch after about three days depending on the kind of tree.
We also see this principle at play when Adam and Eve sinned and lost the everlasting life, the life span of mankind gradually diminished from almost a thousand years to what we have today.
It was the same stopping distance principle that was at work then. The world as we know and now see it ended spiritually 2000 years ago, when Jesus died at Calvary. That is why the book of Revelation has clearly outlined the events that will finally bring the world to an end. Things happen in the spirit before they manifest physically. Your co-death with Jesus is a reality whether you understand it or not but you need to understand it to enjoy the benefit. We shall continue from here in the next edition.
Prayer points
Pray that God will help you to understand and appreciate the fact of your co-death with Christ at Calvary.
Pray that God will grant you the grace to appropriate the reality of your co-death with Christ in your life.
