Galatians 4:4 - But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Out of all
the many laws in the scripture there are two predominant laws that the word of
God is hinged upon. They are “The Law of Sin and Death” and “The Law of the
Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.”
The law of
sin and death is simply this: the soul that sins will die. (Ezekiel 18:20) It
doesn’t matter what type of sin it is. If you sin, you will die. Now we
understand that God was merciful and allowed animals to be sacrificed in place
of humans but this only pushed the problem off for a little while. Eventually
everyone from Adam on down died. People still die today and it is a result of
this law. Adam sinned and we all must die because he passed the curse of his
disobedience down to us.
This would
be a sad reality if not for another law found in scripture. There is another law that is described to us in
the book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 2. It is “The Law of the Spirit of Life in
Christ Jesus.” The first law tells us that we must die for our sins. The second
law tells us that Jesus Christ condemned sin in the flesh. It tells us that we
no longer need walk under the condemnation of sin if we are in Him.
The second
law reverses the effects of the first. While it does not set us free from the
punishment of death, it says that we don’t have to stay dead. We can be buried
in a watery grave of baptism in Jesus name and rise to walk in newness of life.
It further promises that one day we will be resurrected with Jesus. The curse
of death is not final for a child of God.
I once heard
a man say that all fear can be traced back to the fear of death. Afraid of heights?
You’re afraid of falling to your death. Afraid of water? You’re afraid that you
will drown and die. All fear in man goes back to the fear of death. But in
Christ Jesus the strength of death is taken away. Paul said it like this: “O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory. The sting of death is sin; and the strength
of sin is the law.” In other words, we
are afraid to die because of sin. But when the fear of death has been taken
away, death has lost its sting.
If we are in
Jesus, we have no need to fear the law of sin and death. In fact the book of I
John tells us that perfect love casts out fear. (I John 4:18) Yes, all of us
must one day face death. It is inevitable. But it is not final. We which are in
Christ Jesus are promised a second birthday. Just as we are spiritually reborn,
so will we be literally reborn. When that final trumpet sounds we will be
caught out of the grave to meet Jesus in the air and we will be given a new
body.
Even though
death came upon all men by Adam, in Jesus Christ all men can be made alive
again. This is the hope of the believer. We will be made alive again,
Hallelujah! The Lord is coming soon. Amen!