In the last edition we saw that the death of Jesus was not just a substitution but that we actually died in Him. We need faith on this truth to make meaningful spiritual progress. The reality of our co-death with Christ at Calvary must remain in our consciousness to be established in our lives. 2Corinthians 5:14 says “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:” This scripture emphasizes that if one died for all, then all died because, as we have seen already, the one that died is the same one by whom all things exist.
The question you must answer for yourself is, when the one by whom all things exists died what happened to the thing that exists by Him? The simple answer will be, they died. We cannot over emphasize the fact that everything died in Christ because it is the simple and basic truth that must be understood to put all things in their proper perspective.
When Jesus died at Calvary everything died including you and me. Our effectiveness in the Christian walk is heavily dependent on the fact of our co-death with Christ. The major reason many of us are still struggling with our Christian life is because we have not been established in the fact of our co-death with Christ. The true and proper beginning of the Christian walk is the old passing away “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” 2Corinthians 5:17. The old really pass away only as we are established in the fact of our co-death with Christ. Let me ask you, have you seen a dead man that gets angry, greedy, drunk, fornicate or commit any other sin? If you find one let me know.
The only key to manifesting the new life is the appropriation of our co-death with Jesus by faith. The new cannot manifest beyond the level you have allowed the old to pass away. That is why we are admonished to reckon ourselves dead unto sin “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 6:1. To reckon yourself dead means to count or consider yourself to be dead indeed or to accept as true the fact that you have died in Christ. It is not asking you to assume that you died but that you keep yourself in the reality of your actual death in Christ. That is why Jesus also admonished us to take up our cross daily as we follow Him. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” Luke 9:23.
You cannot really follow Jesus in the new life without establishing the fact of your co-death with Him. Note that it is the fact of our co-death with Jesus that water baptism is expected to establish “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” Romans 6:3-4. You can never live effectively as a Christian beyond the level you have appropriated and allow your co-death with Jesus to manifest in your life.
After we have understood the fact of our co-death with Christ we must also understand that the new life is not in us but it is hidden in Him “For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God” Colossians 3:3 (MJKV). The greatest hindrance to effective Christian life is the fear of losing our lives. We put a lot of effort into trying to protect our lives because of lack of knowledge.
The truth is, when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal savior, you gave Him your life in other to receive the new life He has offered. Now, that new life is in Him, that is, Christ Himself is your new life and without Him you have no life. Thus, if you are a child of God your life is not with you but it is hidden in Christ for you. It is only when He appears that your life will appear. “Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory” Colossians 3:4 (GNB). Without Christ you have no life because all of mankind died in Him at Calvary. That is what Jesus meant when He declared “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me” John 14:6.
You do not have to worry about your life right now because the life you live now is not directly in you but in Christ who is in you and it is to be lived only by faith in Him. This is what Apostle Paul meant when he said “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20.
That is also the reason why the Bible says the Just shall live by faith (Rom 1:17). You cannot really live by faith until you understand that the life you are to live now is Christ. The foundation of faith is the understanding that the life we have now is Christ Himself “Your real life is Christ ——” Colossians 3:4 (GNB). That is why the Bible places a lot of emphasis on our abiding in Him. The reality of our co-death with Christ and the understanding that our lives are hidden in Him is the only way the fear of death will not continue to hold us captive. “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” Hebrews 2:15.
Prayer Point
Pray that God will:
Enable you to understand and appreciate the fact that you have a new life in Christ.
Enable you to understand that without Christ you have no life.
Deliver you from the fear of death