Death to Life

Rev 21:5 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

We know that God has created. We know that in Christ, He has recreated. We see this truth presented to us clearly in the Scriptures. And yet, we also find in the world that all things are not yet completely new. We have the promise in the Spirit and the hope of the promise in future resurrection. But we now we see as in a mirror dimly.

Part of the great hope that we have is, not to be delivered from these bodies, but to have our mortality put on immortality. We want sin and death to be swallowed up in victory. God has told us that this is what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. John Owen said that the cross presented to us the Death of Death in the death of Christ. But we do not yet see all things in subjection. The creation still groans. People still die. Sin, though condemned, still lurks. We suffer.

But we must remember that we, who are in Christ, are dead to sin. It has no power to condemn us. For we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, in Christ. And Paul says that we ought to therefore put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are dead to sin. And if we are not dead to sin, then we must die. And our life in Christ consists of this. We must learn to die continually. As we do so, conversely, we will begin to realize, even in our mortal bodies, the life of Christ that is being stored up for our immortal bodies.

So, we come to this time of confession, not dragging our feet, sullen and despondent, nor hopeless and feeble. But we come, even to repentance, in the power of the Holy Spirit. For, we must rely upon Him both to die and to live. And we must do both, identifying with Christ in His death. Really dying. And being raised to life in Christ in His life. Really living.

So, let us come to death that we might be raised up beyond it.