Living with Eternity in View - Part Two
You are the REDEEMED of the Lord
2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15 And that he died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again.
16 Therefore from now on know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on know we him no more.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
His love is a constraining love. To constrain is to bind, to restrict by force. Hmmm, I thought He came to set us free. What sort of love sets us free by constraining us? Let us let Paul explain, as inspired by the Holy Spirit…
“If one died for all, then were all dead.”
The reason Jesus died for us was because we were spiritually dead. A sentence of death had been passed on Adam and all his descendants by God Himself. We were suffering some of the awful effects of that sentence already, and awaiting the final execution of the judgement. In the natural, when a man is condemned to death, he’s not released to go home to his family while awaiting execution, is he? No, he’s kept in prison till it’s time to hang him. In the same way, unbelievers live in this world awaiting His judgement. They live every day of their lives under His wrath.
In dying for us, Jesus took our sentence of death on Himself. Our lives were forfeit, He paid, and He cancelled the claims of Divine Justice upon our lives by the sacrifice of His own life.
“And that he died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again.”
If you were arrested by the traffic police and they were about to tow your vehicle away, you’d surely be grateful if a friend passing by were to pay your fine and stop the process. Maybe this friend has to cough up a huge amount of money. Maybe the money is so much that it represents your income for many months or even many years. Well, you’d make plans to begin payment. The sooner, the better.
But what if your Friend paid with His blood? What if He redeemed you not with money, but with His own life? You can’t pay back this debt. He now owns you, lock, stock and barrel. He releases you to go home and be with your family but asks that you work for Him from now on. He hands over some assets for you to manage. He tells you that someday He will ask you to give an account of how you managed these assets.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Paul calls you a new creation. Your old life is over. A new life has started. All that you ever were, all that you are now, and all you could ever be belong to Someone else. One day you will have to settle accounts with Him. Will He celebrate you for living for Him, or will He conclude you cheated Him?
1 Corinthians 6 (KJ2000)
19 What? know ye not that …ye are not your own?
2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
9 Therefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…
Continue in grace!