‘…And Was Dead’

‘…And Was Dead’

I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hell and of Death.

Revelation 1:18

We considered yesterday the post-resurrection words of Christ, to John the Apostle, regarding His Vitality. Today, let us consider, please, Christ’s reference, within this same context, to His Mortality. He says, ‘I am He that lives, and was dead.’ It is obviously important to Christ that He make this point. Let us consider, please, some of the ramifications of it. ‘I was dead,’ brings us to consider that it was a genuine death. This was no ‘swooning’ as some assert. The record shows that one of the executing soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and the ‘blood and water’ flowed out, thus evidencing the piercing of the pericardium. This was, in every respect, a genuine death.  Moreover, this was a shameful death. Christ, in every way possible, short of actually sinning, identified with us, who are wrath-deserving breakers of the Law of God. Beyond that, this was a substitutionary death. Christ was occupying the place of us who deserved to die. He was paying the penalty which the Law exacts for sin. Also, this was a necessary death. Apart from this death, by this Person, there can be no acceptance for us with God. There are many more things to consider, but time and space fail us. These serve, however, to lift our eyes to the Living Savior, and to meditate upon the fact that He ‘was dead.’

Our Gacious, Living Lord, we praise You,
that You were willing to endure the cruel death of the cross, on our behalf.
We thank You that we live because You died.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning