FEEDBACK: WHAT IS THE “DEATH” THAT CHRIST EXPERIENCED ON
THE CROSS?
5/2/11
We
appreciate feedback on the studies posted on this website. It helps us to see
if there is anything on this website that does not agree with the Bible.
Below IS A QUESTION ABOUT THE HOW THE BIBLICAL DEFINITION
OF “LIFE” AND “DEATH” IMPACTS THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST
THE READER’S QUESTION IS IN ITALICS. OUR RESPONSE FOLLOWS.
Hello,
I would like to ask you. Based on the definition of “life” for mankind, can you
please elaborate more about Jesus’ crucifixion based on what the Bible defines
“life”.
Let's consider what it means that Jesus died during
the crucifixion. The Biblical definitions that God is life and death is
separation from God still hold in the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, who
is God, is life (John 11:25, 14:6). Since God is life, then the God, The
Father, is also life.
During the atonement the Lord Jesus became separated
from God (dead) in two ways.
The first way was while He was hanging on the cross
on Friday afternoon. This is the most important way because the Bible
emphasizes that the payment for sins was completed Friday afternoon while Jesus
was still conscious in His body on the cross as we read in John 19:30:
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
John 19:30 focuses upon the payment for sin being
accomplished (It is finished) while Jesus was still conscious in His body on
the cross. The subsequent events were the proofs of the successful payment for
sin. There was only one point in the atonement where Jesus said “It is
finished”, so God is drawing attention to it. We don’t want to disregard the
focus that God has put on the fact that the payment for sins was finished while
Christ was still in His body on the cross on Friday afternoon. This is
important.
While Jesus was on the cross, He was forsaken by God
as we read in Matthew 27:46:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?
Jesus, who is God, was forsaken by God, a divine mystery,
but nevertheless,
true because the Bible says so.
To be forsaken includes separation. Matthew 27:46
teaches that Jesus, who is God, was separated (forsaken) from God. That is the
important "death of Christ". Jesus became separated (forsaken) from
God on the cross. Matthew 27:46 teaches the important truth that the atonement
for sins included Christ being cut off or separated from God, which is death,
the punishment for sins.
The Bible gives many verses that teach that the
Biblical definition of death is separation, especially separation from God, who
is life. Some of these verses can be found in the links below:
http://www.isannihilationtrue.com/death1.htm
http://www.isannihilationtrue.com/life1.htm
This applies to the death of the Lord Jesus that He
experienced on the cross. He was forsaken (separated) from God, who is life.
This is a divine mystery, but nevertheless true. So, the experience of Jesus on
the cross agrees with the Biblical definition that death is separation.
There is a second way the "death" of the
Lord Jesus on the cross was separation. This has to do with the corpse of Jesus
and it also applies to all mankind. While we are in this world, we are "in
God" and we "move" in God and have our being in God, as we read
about in Acts 17:28:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as
certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
This verse also applies to the body of the Lord
Jesus. During His earthly sojourn, His body, like the bodies of men, was
"in God" and "moved" in God and had his "being"
in God as we read about in Acts 17:28. His body was like the bodies of men.
While we are in this world, we are in God and in all of His blessings. This
applies to all mankind, both the saved and the unsaved.
But, when the spirit of Christ left His Body and His
body fell on sleep, becoming a corpse, then Acts 17:28 no longer applied to His
body. That is because corpses do not "move". Acts 17:28 does not
apply to a corpse because it cannot move. So, the body is no longer "in
God" in the sense of Acts 17:28 when it sleeps in the dust, becoming a
corpse. It becomes further separated from God which is the Biblical definition
of death. This is the death that the body of Jesus experienced when it fell on
sleep and His Spirit went into heaven.
There is more information on this subject in the
study at this link:
http://www.isannihilationtrue.com/death1.htm
The explanation is in various parts of the study, so
it helps to be able to read the whole study, or at least search for "Acts
17" and read those sections.
Thank
you for the feedback.