We die only once and then we are judged.
Observation
All of the temples, sacrifices, tabernacles and so one, al of the
paraphernalia of the Jewish religious system are just copies of what
is in heaven. They are a picture, a physical representation of the
heavenly, spiritual realm
So although the physical copy is cleansed through regular sacrifices
in the temple, the real work of reconciliation takes place in heaven
through the one true sacrifice of Christ the perfect Son of God.
The sacrifice of Christ can happen only once because He is perfect
and because He can only die once.
We die once and then are judged. He died once to save us through the
judgement.
Application
Christ's death is the end of religion- it is anti-religion.
Sacrifices, vows, striving to please an unknown God, are all done
away with. The copy is no longer needed because God's own perfect
sacrifice is here.
All of our attempts to please God are exposed as feeble and
ineffective. The perfect sacrifice does away with it all.
Jesus will not save us from
judgement but He does save us through
judgement. He is our advocate, the one who guarantees that we will be
found innocent.
We die just once- there is only one life to be lived on this planet.
There is no endless cycle of karma and reincarnation- just the one
judgement and the offer of the free grace of God. In that sense Jesus
saves us from reincarnation and from the iron law of karma. God's
grace triumphs over all religion.
Prayer
Lord Jesus you have paid the price for my sin. I thank you for
setting me free through your perfect sacrifice. Amen.
Keith - I have always wondered about the definition of death in this passage. I remember a pastor mentioning that in many cases there was only one word in English, but several different words in the languages the Bible was translated from. Is this physical death? I've always assumed it was, but maybe I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteI would assume it's physical death, as it's in the context of the sacrifice of animals and Jesus being our sacrifice.Other parts of the New Testament talk about death for believers as being like sleep.Revelation talks about the second death which is the "real" death as it were, which comes after the judgment and is described in Revelation as the Lake of Fire.We talk about "dying inside', "dying for a drink", "emotionally dead" and so on although we would see these as figurative terms. The Bible uses similar language i.e. death as a figure of something else. But in real language, it's just physical death and then the "spiritual" death.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
ReplyDelete