1 Corinthians 15:26-27 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He “has put everything under his feet.”
Jesus took victory over three deaths – death of the spirit, soul and body. Sin separates us from the Spirit of God and the presence of God. We normally understand death as the separation of the body from the spirit of man. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). When we die, our spirit, (the breath of God), will return to the Lord and the soul will live eternally. Our choices and decisions during our short lifespan on earth will determine if we will live eternally in heaven or suffer eternally in hell. Adam and Eve died two other deaths before their bodies died. Both their spirits and souls died when they disobeyed.
The Lord said, you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17). Adam lived 930 years after he sinned and was driven out of the Garden of Eden. The first death of Adam and Eve was the spiritual death or the ‘separation from the Lord’s presence’. Then their conscience/soul was dead. They were numbed to the leading of the Holy Spirit by the infiltration of sin. In the garden they walked with God and communed with Him but when they were separated from His presence their spiritual eyes and ears were blinded and deafened.
Jesus suffered all three deaths on the cross of Calvary.
Behind the empty cross:
1. Body: Jesus bore all our sins, sickness and curses on the cross. ’Having said this, He breathed His last’ (Luke 23:46b), but Christ Jesus rose again conquering death. In the resurrected power of Christ we have victory over the sins of the flesh. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). As long as we live in this body, we have victory over every sin, addiction and stronghold through the cross.
2. Soul: Jesus cried, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ‘ (Mark 15:34) and suffered the death of His soul. Our mind is the battlefield and we can win the battles that rage in our mind with the resurrected power of Jesus.
3. Spirit: We are alive in our spirit because Jesus gave up His Spirit. When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit (Matthew 27:50). But on the third day, the Holy Spirit raised the battered bruised body of Jesus back to life. Even when our hearts stop beating and lungs fail we never die as we are spirit-beings. We live forever in eternity with the Lord.
The cross defeated the physical death, the death of the soul and spirit.
Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
Prayer: King Jesus, thank you for the hope that we have in you. May your resurrected body rejuvenate my body, mind, soul and spirit. Amen
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