We're dead!

 

Just over 2000 years ago we died. Nailed to the cross in perfect union with Jesus, we died a full, one-time-only death. The nails that went through His hands and feet pierced our hands and feet. He became our sin. He took our broken, fallen, depraved, futile life and an incredible exchange took place. We went into the grave with Him, we were crucified with Jesus and yet He was the one who felt the pain and anguish of our sin and brokenness. We were given a pain-free death in return for the most amazing new life. He became our sickness so we could be healthy, He became our lack so we could live in abundance, He became our depression so we could be happy, He became our sin so we could be perfect.

This is the most awesome news that we could ever be given. It is stunning, it is almost too good to be true. It blows every grid of thought and when you begin to grasp it's truth, it changes everything!

Not only did we die with Jesus, but we were also resurrected into new life with him. We came out of the grave with Him completely transformed. We were resurrected into 'kainos' life - this is a Greek word used in the New Testament when describing this new life. It means "new as to form or quality, of a different nature from what is contrasted as old". This kainos life is not an improved version of the old, but a completely new version altogether. It is superior to what existed before and actually takes the place of the old. This is the new life we were born into when we came out of the grave in perfect union with Jesus.

The Distilled Bible says:

"I consider myself having died and now I am enjoying a second existence which is simply Jesus using my body."  Galatians 2:20

The Mirror Bible puts it this way:

"My co-crucifixion with Christ is valid! I am not making this up; in His death I died to the old system of trying to please God with my own good behaviour! God makes me alive together with Christ. The terms co-crucified and co-alive defines me now. Christ in me and I in Him." Galatians 2:19-20

We have been totally set free from the law of trying to please God, of trying to be free from sin, of trying to do better. We have been given an entirely new life which is abundant in every possible way. He has done it ALL. Everything to do with our old life has been eradicated and we now live a new life where Jesus has taken full possession. We do not need to work out our salvation by trying to be better, it is a done deal, once, total, finished. We are now free to enjoy a life of co-reigning, seated in heaven and feasting on it's glory. All the joy, completeness, peace, life and fulfillment of Jesus is ours. We have become the fourth member of the Trinity merged into Jesus, represented by Jesus and we appear spotless and perfect before our Papa.

Anything we now offer based on the law of self works, of trying to please God, of trying to do better or be better are futile. We are only seen through the perfect, finished works of the Cross - this is pure grace, pure gift. 'Me' no longer has a role because it has become all about what He has done.

Francois du Toit, in his book God Believes in You, says:

“The cross is a success! God is fully persuaded about us, he does not need any further proof; His concern now, is to persuade us about ourselves.”

Jesus believes in our innocence. He really sees us as perfect in every way. We are the ones who need convincing of this truth! Imagine the possibilities that would open up if we really did believe this, if we saw ourselves though this lens of this truth. We are now fully alive to God, in union with Jesus. We are dead to the old life and have been gifted with brand spanking new kainos life!

"For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:10-11 (AMP)

Nicky x

You can't improve on perfect!

What makes Jesus death so special? It’s not simply the fact that He laid His life down for us; men have been laying their lives down for their friends on battlefields around the world for centuries. It’s not even the fact that He rose again; God has been giving life to the dead for centuries too. No, it’s the fact that He is perfect; and only the perfect sacrifice of the Son was enough to pay for the sin of the world and open the way for us to be with Him, to bring us back to Him, for His delight and pleasure.

I was meditating on Isaiah 40:11 recently where it tells us “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” As I did so I had a picture of being in Jesus arms as He carried me into the presence of the Father. Then, as I stood before God, I was the one carrying  Jesus, the pure spotless lamb. My offering was His perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice that’s acceptable and pleasing to Him.

Genesis 4 tells us the story of Cain and Abel, and God’s response to their respective offerings. “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour.”

  

Abel’s offering was a shadow of the firstborn lamb, a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice, and God was pleased with it. Cain’s offering was of the work of his hands; by his own efforts he tried to please God, but God would not even look upon it. And so it is for us; Jesus is the only sacrifice which is acceptable to God. In fact. He will not even look at our own efforts – whatever we do, we can in no way add to the salvation we have in Jesus.

This got me thinking too, about Psalm 24 where it says “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” I figure Cain’s hands would have been dirty as he worked the soil in his effort to produce an offering for God. Yet for all his endeavors, his offering was not acceptable.

It’s the same for us. Only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus is pleasing and acceptable to God. Only when we stand before Him with the pure spotless lamb as our offering does He look upon us with favour. The wonderfully GOOD news is that Jesus has done it all, ‘it if finished’. We have clean hands and a pure heart, sprinkled with His precious blood and made new in every way, so we can stand in the holy place of His presence, where Papa want’s us.

Anything else just makes our hands dirty!

“From eternity, the Father placed the responsibility of making us holy and blameless, and of bringing us before Him, into the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

C. Baxter Kruger

Mike x