What does it mean to die? I find myself pondering that a lot recently. Our whole nation will need to ponder it more in coming days. At least I hope we will, as we consider having our doctors hasten it. What does death bring? What does it contain exactly?
Dying signifies an end– an end to life. And this life has some troubles, that’s for sure. An end to some of them sounds not so bad. Like an end to hurting and being hurt. An end to being always afraid. An end to constantly defending yourself and comparing yourself.
The Dead have nothing left to protect or grasp or try and clean up or doll up or lie about or fix or reinforce or hide or pretend about.An end to competing for everything and anything; competing for control, attention, praise, popularity, value, money or position. If we were dead we’d have nothing left in this life to lose and there’d be no reason to hide our weaknesses. Dead is pretty weak, after all. There’d be an end to insecurities and being self conscious and to self-pity. The dead have nothing left to protect or grasp or try and clean up or doll up or lie about or fix or reinforce or hide or pretend about. It would all be done and gone. Every law and contract and warrant would end for us. The heavy burdens of this life would be over. Which would be wonderful and exciting… if we were alive to enjoy it. But, I guess, that’s the thing, isn’t it. We wouldn’t be. We’d be dead. And dead would mean an end to “wonderful and exciting”, and to enjoyment and delight and love and peace and fun and happiness and kindness and compassion and amazement and surprise and satisfaction and every other good thing. So, yeah, that’s a bit of a problem. But what if there was a solution? A solution where we could receive the freedom that comes with death and yet be alive to enjoy it?
Good Friday
On Good Friday we remember what happened upon a Roman cross two millennia ago, when a man named Jesus, who was God himself in human likeness, died. Those who were there tell us that when he did the ground shook, the skies darkened, tombs were opened and the great veil that hung in the temple was torn in two (Matt. 27:45-54). This moment was the most powerful and terrible and glorious and beautiful in all of history. It shook both heaven and earth. It changed everything.
It even changed you and me. Because God promises us something more in the Bible, something almost scandalous and completely life altering. He tells us that in that history-shaking moment when our Lord Jesus died, you and I died as well.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
Romans 6:3For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
2 Corinthians 5:14
When we look at a cross I think most Christians remember that Jesus died for us. He suffered and died to atone for our sins. But do we realize that he accomplished even more than that? That he not only dealt with our sins but he also dealt with us– the source of our sins? Do we realize that he carried us into his death so that we might be free? When we look at the cross do we see our own death as well?
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2:20
United with Christ
God tells us through scripture that he has united us with Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30). Like a piece of paper placed inside a book and wherever that book goes the paper also goes, so God has placed you and me in Jesus. This is true for every Christian, whether we fully understand it or not. Because it is not something we have done. It is a miracle God has done. It is grace. Who is a Christian? One who is in Christ.
When Jesus died we died in Him. If Jesus had not died nothing that followed would have been possible. And we are part of what followed– the offspring of his life. So, it is as though we were in Him when he died and died along with him on that Roman cross.
And what does it mean to die? It means an end. It means an end to the life that went before. For us it means the end of the life that came from Adam and Eve at the beginning of the human race– the life of a sinner (Rom. 5:19). It means an end to a life dominated and polluted with evil and corruption and separation from God. It means an end to our captivity– our enslavement to sin. It means freedom.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6:6-7
Death is our escape from the sin-ruled life passed down to us from Adam. So, to be free from it and all the burdens that come with it we must die. But death is no good alone. If there is no life, there is no way to enjoy the freedom we might have through death.
And that is why this is a good news story. Because Jesus did not only die. And therefore neither did we.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Romans 6:3-5
Through Death to Life
Jesus died. But death could not hold him. And a new most powerful and glorious and beautiful moment in history took place three days after his death. By the glory of the Father, Jesus was raised to life and rose from his tomb. And God has proclaimed that, just as truly, you and I also died and just as truly, by the glory of the Father, were raised to life with Christ (Rom. 6:8). This is true for every Christian and we lay hold of it by faith. We have been set free through death. And because we have been raised from that death into a new life in Christ, we can enjoy all the freedom and joy and peace and love and power that God pours out on us, his children.
Death is no good unless it leads to life. But death with resurrection is freedom.
The Christian’s old source of life, breathed into Adam by God, has passed away and the life of Christ has been placed there instead by his Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ is now our life. We have no need to obsess over ourselves anymore, not like we did. In fact it makes no sense. Because our old, singular, alone self is wonderfully dead and gone. And this means that we can fully and rightly fix all our attention on Christ Jesus, who is our Lord and King and our very life itself.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3
When we look to the cross let us have faith and marvel at the work and love of Jesus. Let us praise and worship and rejoice in him, who has paid the price for our every sin by his precious blood and brought us with him through his death, into a new, free and eternal life.
Christ has died. Christ has risen. And therefore, so have we. Praise God.
