The Death of Christ
This article looks at the death of Christ from a number of angles:
a. The Typical angle
b. The Doctrinal angle
c. The Practical angle
Numerous types and shadows of the death of Christ are set forth in the Old Testament. Genesis alone contains many pictures that speak of the person and work of Christ:
Genesis Ch. 3 – God made skins for Adam and Eve (Christ as Substitute)
Genesis Ch. 6 – Noah built an ark in preparation for the worldwide flood (Christ as Saviour)
Genesis Ch.22 – Abraham lays his son on the altar (Christ the Son)
Genesis Ch.38 – Joseph is hated and sold by his brethren (Christ the Sufferer)
Genesis Ch.46 – Joseph becomes ruler and is revealed to his brethren (Christ as Sovereign)
Each of the first 5 books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) contain one central picture of the death of Christ, each connected with an animal and each teaching a specific aspect of Christ’s cross-work:
Genesis Ch. 22 The Ram Substitution
Exodus Ch. 12 The Lamb Redemption
Leviticus Ch. 16 The Goats Propitiation
Numbers Ch. 19 The Red Heifer Purification
Deuteronomy Ch. 21 The Heifer National expiation
There is a good deal of rich and profitable teaching in each of these chapters and to aid deeper study and enjoyment C.H. Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch are highly recommended.
Three words are repeatedly used in scripture in relation to the sacrifice of Christ:
1. Galatians particularly highlights the ‘cross’, emphasising the shame of Calvary (Gal 6:14)
2. Galatians also highlights the ‘tree’, emphasising the curse connected with Calvary (Gal 3:13)
3. Hebrews highlights the ‘blood’, emphasising the price and value of Christ’s work (Heb 9:14)
4. Romans highlights the ‘death’, emphasising the reality of His sacrifice (Rom 5:10)
The doctrinal significance of the death of Christ will be considered under six headings. The death of Christ:
1. Crucial
2. Central
3. Certain
4. Controlled
5. Complete
6. Comprehensive
1. Crucial
The death of Christ was crucial for a number of reasons. He Himself said “The Son of Man must suffer” (Mark 8:31). He had to die to fulfil the Father’s will and to fulfil Old Testament scripture (1 Cor 15:3). A covenant demands death (Heb 9:16) and forgiveness demands blood (Heb 9:22). For God to be just and the justifier there had to be a propitiation made – the appeasement of wrath by a sacrifice – which is what Christ accomplished in His death (Rom 3:26). Only He, as the sinless Son of God, was qualified to be the one mediator that sinners needed (2 Cor 5:21, 1 Tim 2:5).
The death of Christ was always in the mind of God from all eternity, being central to all His purposes (1 Pet 1:20). Sinners in Old Testament times were justified by faith on the basis of the still future work of Christ. The righteousness imputed to them was on the basis of the coming sacrifice of Christ (Rom 3:25, Heb 9:15). In that sense it is true to say that the Old Testament saints were saved looking forward to the cross, while sinners are now saved looking back to the cross. Salvation in every age is through faith alone, whether in Old Testament times (Rom 4:1-10), transitional times (John the Baptist’s era, John 3:36, Acts 19:4) or now (Acts 16:31).
Though we live in a world where one billion Muslims follow a book that flatly denies the reality of the cross-death of the Lord Jesus, the fact is, anyone who is prepared to examine history honestly can be certain that Jesus Christ was indeed crucified and died on that cross at Calvary, just outside the old city wall of Jerusalem. In Sura 4:157 the Koran states, “…they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but he was made to resemble (one crucified)…they killed him not for sure.” Islam teaches that Christ was taken down from the cross and lived for years afterwards. Yet the gospel accounts are clear:
1. After getting no sleep the night before, Jesus endured several trials, was severely buffeted, scourged and crowned with thorns.
2. After carrying the cross part of the way to Calvary, three long nails were driven into his hands and feet.
3. Jesus experienced severe blood-loss during six hours on the cross (Mark 15:25, 33-34). From Dean Farrar’s Life of Christ we learn of the horrors of a typical crucifixion: ‘‘And there, in tortures, which grew ever more insupportable, ever more maddening as time flowed on, the unhappy victims might linger in a living death so cruelly intolerable, that often they were driven to entreat and implore the spectators, or the executioners, for dear pity’s sake, to put an end to anguish too awful for man to bear – conscious to the last, and often, with tears of abject misery, beseeching from their enemies the priceless boon of death. For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly – dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness,traumatic fever, tetanus, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds – all intensified just up the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness. The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries – especially of the head and stomach – become swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst; and all these physical complications caused and internal excitement and anxiety which made the prospect of death itself – of death, the awful unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most – bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release.’’
4. After dying, His side was pierced and blood and water came out (John 19:34). This verse records an eyewitness account. It is expected that blood and a watery serum would flow from a punctured heart after crucifixion.
5. The Romans, who were professional executioners, did not break His legs to speed death because they knew He was already dead (John 19:33).
6. Pilate confirmed the fact of the death of Jesus with the centurion-in-charge before allowing His followers to bury Him (Mark 15:44-45).
7. Jesus was embalmed with 100 pounds of spices and wrapped in linen cloths/bandages (John 19:39-40).
8. He was laid in a garden tomb, blocked by a rock weighing 3,000-4,000 pounds; sealed by a clay Roman seal (broken on pain of death), and guarded by elite Roman soldiers (4-16 men, each trained to protect 6 sq feet of ground. 16 men in a square of four on each side were supposed to protect 36 sq yards against an entire battalion and hold it).
9. He remained in the tomb until the third day (1 Cor 15:4).
In light of the above facts there can be no other conclusion than that the Lord Jesus not only died but that He died on a cross as had been prophesied (Psalm 22:16).
4. Controlled
Numerous attempts on the life of Christ are recorded in the gospels:
- Herod attempted to slaughter Him as a baby (Matt 2:16)
- The Jews tried to kill Him (John 5:18)
- Twice more the Jews sought to stone Jesus (John 8:59, 10:31)
- The enraged synagogue attendees in Nazareth attempted to throw Him off the top of a hill (Luke 4:29)
5. Complete
The New Testament, particularly the epistle to the Hebrews, contrasts the continual sacrifices of the Jewish Temple system with Christ’s single once-for-all sacrifice. Note the following verses:
Heb 7:27 - Not daily, as those high priests to offer up sacrifice…for this he did once
Heb 9:26 - Once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin.
Heb 9:28 - Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many
Heb 10:10 - The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
Heb 10:12 - One sacrifice for sins for ever
Heb 10:14 - By one offering
Heb 10:18 - No more offering needed.
Other New Testament references would include:
Rom 6:10 - For in that he died, he died unto sin once
1 Pet 3:18 - Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.
The writer to the Hebrews draws numerous points of contrast between the ‘first’ and ‘second’ sacrifice (Heb 10:9):
Mosaic Sacrifices Christ’s Sacrifice
Standing (v11) Now sat down (v12)
Daily (v11) Once for all (v12)
Repeatedly offering (v11) No more offering (v18)
Sacrifices (v11) A single sacrifice (v11)
Never take away sins (v11) Forgiveness (v18)
Constant reminder of sin (v3) Remembered no more (v17)
The doctrine of the completed, once-for-all finished work of Christ is a vital truth of scripture. With a loud voice the Lord Jesus proclaimed from the cross “It is finished”, thus announcing that His atoning work stood accomplished for all time and eternity (John 19:30). While the errors of the Roman Catholic Church are many and varied, none is more dangerous than the teaching of the Mass. Far from mere symbolism and ritual, Rome claims that the Mass is an actual offering in which there is a real victim, the Lord Jesus, under the appearance of bread and wine. When the priest offers up the bread and wine on the altar, it is considered by Rome to be a true and proper sacrifice whereby Jesus, in an unbloody immolation, offers Himself a most acceptable victim to God, as He did on the cross, for the sins of the living and the dead. Clearly, with this blasphemous error at its heart, no fellowship is possible with the Roman Catholic Church under any circumstances.
For whom is the work of Christ complete? According to The Synod of Dort, an assembly of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands that met at Dort (Dordrecht) from Nov. 13, 1618, to May 9, 1619 – and settled on the five points of Calvinism – Christ at Calvary only made a ‘limited atonement’. That is, in the words of Calvinistic writer John MacArthur, “For whom did Christ die? He died for all who would believe because they were chosen, called, justified, and granted repentance and faith by the Father. The atonement is limited to those who believe, who are the elect of God…One should forget the idea of unlimited atonement.” (2 Peter & Jude, page. 74). Contrary to this idea, the Bible clearly teaches that Christ died for all men, and the fact that He died for all makes Christians interested in the salvation of all. A ‘limited atonement’ compromises the genuineness of the offer to “whosoever will”. The three key verses that answer the error of ‘limited atonement’ are:
a. John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Clearly God loves the whole world and gave His Son for it. The Lord loved even those who turned away from Him (Mark 10:31). Trying to avoid the obvious, Calvinists will claim that John 3:16 only refers to ‘the world of the elect’, thereby making a nonsense of other references to ‘world’ in the nearby context and in the rest of the gospel of John.
b. 1 John 2:2
“He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
The clear teaching of this verse is that the wrath-appeasing sacrifice of Christ was not only made on behalf of those who will believe, but for all. The Calvinist replies that the words “the sins of” are in italics and should be missed out. However, Henry Alford in his Greek Text explains the omission: “in the latter clause there is an ellipsis very common in ordinary speech in every language: ‘for the whole world’ = ‘for the sins of the whole world ’.” The fact is, appeased and satisfied by the atonement of Christ, God has been rendered merciful to sinners (Luke 18:13). Every reason God had for banishing sinners, every legal obstacle, has been overcome.
c. 1 Tim 2:4-6
“Who will have [desires, wants] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all.”
Again, how much clearer could scripture be? The ransom was made on behalf of and instead of all. Greek expert M.J. Harris comments; “...in 1 Tim 2:6 the notions of exchange and substitution are both present.” Christ Jesus gave Himself a substitutionary ransom for (Greek: antilutron huper) all. But if Christ died for all men, then all men must be saved. No. Neither the ‘propitiation made’ nor the ‘ransom paid’ is an exact like-for-like payment by Christ of an individual sinner’s ‘sin-debt’ (so many stripes for so many sins). Charles Smith explains: “We are not to view this [Christ’s cross-work] as involving an individual and separable penalty for each sin of each individual. Due to the infinite value of His person, He bore a penalty which was more than equal to the penalty that could be paid by all humans throughout all eternity. Exact equivalence of punishment was unnecessary and impossible. The infinite God paid a greater price in those moments on the cross than all men could ever pay. He did not pay the payment which we would otherwise be required to pay, He made a greater payment which may be applied to our account instead of the penalty that we would have to pay.”
In light of modern attacks on the truth of penal substitution it is necessary to reiterate the fact that the cross involved the Lord Jesus being punished by God. Isaiah 53 clearly states: “He was bruised for our iniquities” (v5). Who bruised Christ? Verse 10 tells us; “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” The wounding, bruising, chastising and even the ‘stripe’ (singular) of verse 5 were all inflicted by God on His Son the Lord Jesus. God put His own Son to grief and made His soul an offering for sin (v10). No rod, no thorns, no nails nor any human act of whatever kind could ever inflict upon Christ the punishment due to sin, for only a divine person can inflict and/or endure sin-atoning sufferings. The whole concept of propitiation involves the appeasement of wrath by a sacrifice (Gen 32:20, Exod 32:30, Num 16:46, 2 Sam 21:3, Prov 16:14, Rom 3:25 & 5:9). The Bible is clear - it was God who forsook Him (Psa 22:1); it was God who brought Him into the dust of death (Psa 22:15); it was God who laid all our iniquities on Him (Isa 53:6); it was God whose sword awoke against the Shepherd (Zech 13:7); and it was God who made Him to be sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). Yet because Jesus is wholly God and wholly man, the cross does not picture a judge finding a third party to bear the penalty of the accused; rather the judge bears the sentence of justice himself. It is important also to note that the ransom made at the cross was paid to God and not to Satan (Psa 49:7, Eph 5:2, Heb 9:14).
6. Comprehensive
The events that occurred at the cross and the results that flow from cross are staggering. Note this in eleven aspects:
i. Salvation for sinners:
Due to the cross, sinners can now be saved (Eph 2:8, Heb 5:9), cleansed (Eph 5:26, Titus 2:14, Heb 10:22), delivered (Col 1:13, Heb 2:15), fitted for an eternal inheritance (Col 1:12), translated into the kingdom (Col 1:13), forgiven (Eph 1:7), sanctified (Heb 10:10), perfected (Heb 10:14), declared righteous [the act of justification] (Rom 3:24), constituted righteous [the result of justification] (Rom 5:19), redeemed (Rom 3:24, Eph 1:7, Col 1:14, Titus 2:14, Heb 9:12, 1 Pet 1:18, Rev 5:9), spiritually circumcised (Col 2:11), reconciled (Rom 5:10, Col 1:21), adopted as sons of God (Gal 4:5), quickened (Eph 2:5, Col 2:13), blessed and seated in heavenly places (Eph 1:3, 2:6); having been brought to God (1 Pet 3:18), had their peace made with God (Rom 5:1), received eternal life (John 3:14-16, 1 John 4:9) and been indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:6).
ii. Purification for sins
Christ came to take away sins (1 John 3:5), save from sins (Matt 1:21) and redeem from the power of sin and sins (Rom 3:24, Eph 1:7, Col 1:14, Titus 2:14). At the cross He made purification for sins (Heb 1:3), offered Himself for sins (Heb 7:27), bore sins (Isa 53:11-12, Heb 9:28), and provided for the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7). Thus believers will not suffer eternal wrath for their sins (Rom 5:9).
iii. Condemnation for sin
The power and principle of sin was made of none effect by the cross (Rom 6:6). At Calvary sin was condemned (Rom 8:3). Our ‘old man’, our former self in and connected to Adam, was judicially sentenced and brought to an end (Rom 6:6). There was nothing in Adamic man for God, so he was judicially terminated at Calvary. What is true for all in Adam corporately is true of individuals as part of Adam’s fallen race, so believers may say, “I am crucified” (Gal 2:20). Additionally, believers have died as connected to and identified with Christ. So, crucifixion judges all that sinners are in connection with Adam, while death delivers them as identified with Christ. Thus having died with Christ believers are ‘free from sin’ as their master (Rom 6:7-8, 2 Tim 2:11) and can now live outside the dominion of sin (Rom 6:14). They are also delivered from law as the principle of living (Rom 6:14).
iv. Satisfaction for God
Through the cross God has been propitiated (Rom 3:25, Heb 2:17, 1 John 4:10), His righteousness has been declared (Rom 3:25) and access to Him has been opened up (Eph 2:18).
v. Reconciliation for Jew and Gentile
Believing Jews and Gentiles have become one in Christ by the cross (Gal 3:28, Eph 2:14), the wall between them has been broken down (Eph 2:14), the law that caused enmity between them has been annulled and the enmity slain (Eph 2:15-16) and Gentiles have been brought near and made fellow-citizens with believing Jews (Eph 2:13, 2:19).
vi. Cancellation for the law
The law has been annulled by the cross (Eph 2:15-16). Our ‘record of debt’ (through not having kept the law) was nailed to the cross and taken out of the way (Col 2:14), we died to the law (Rom 6:14, 7:4, Gal 2:19, Col 2:20, 3:3), were redeemed from both the curse of the law (Gal 3:13) and the actual system of law (Gal 3:25, 4:5).
vii. Humiliation for Satan
At the cross Christ spoiled Satanic principalities and powers, making a show of them openly and triumphing over them (Col 2:15), He rendered Satan powerless (Heb 2:14) and crushed Satan’s head (Gen 3:15).
viii. Preservation for heaven
The heavenlies have been purified by the work of Christ (Heb 9:23). That is, while ritual blood-purification enabled the earthly Tabernacle to be used by sinful man, so heaven is able to be entered and dwelt in by sinners because of the blood of the cross. Even now, sinners may ‘enter the holiest’ because of Calvary (Heb 10:19).
ix. Abolition for death
At the cross Christ ‘abolished death’; that is, He broke it of its power and robbed it of its authority (2 Tim 1:10) and He delivered sinners from the fear of death by ‘destroying him who had the power of death’ (Heb 2:15).
x. Restoration for Israel
The New Covenant that believers now enjoy spiritually (Luke 22:20, 1 Cor 11:25, 2 Cor 3:6, Heb 8:6-12, 9:15, 10:10-19, 12:22-24) will come into effect nationally for Israel at the second advent with both spiritual and material blessings (Jer 31:33-34, 32:37-41, Eze 20:37, 34:25, 37:26). Israel’s national salvation, her millennial blessings and eternal bliss are all based on the cross (Rom 11:25-26, Zech 12:10). Through restored Israel all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:3, Rom 11:15).
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xi. Glorification for the believer’s body
Grace now reigns (Rom 5:21), the saints now ‘reign in life’ (Rom 5:17), their bodies will be redeemed at resurrection (Rom 8:23, Eph 1:14, 1 Thess 5:11) and they will be presented spotless before God (Eph 5:27, Col 1:22, Jude 24). Indeed, through the cross the entire universe will yet be reconciled to God (Col 1:20) and the creation will be delivered from the results of the fall (Rom 8:21).
c. The Practical Angle
What effect should the death of Christ have on believers? From all the epistles it is clear that practical implications always flow from doctrine. The very layout of the epistles often follows that order – an exposition of doctrine followed by its application to our lives. Because Christ has died for them, believers ought to:
Romans: …present their bodies a living sacrifice to God, not conforming to this world but being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Rom 12:1-2).
Galatians: …live as dead to the world (Gal 6:14), remembering that one major purpose of the sacrifice of Christ was that we might be delivered from this present evil world (Gal 1:4).
Ephesians: …walk differently to unbelievers, putting away sinful habits and seeking to please the Lord (Eph 4:17-5:10). This epistle shows how the death of Christ affects even something as ‘mundane’ as a husband’s attitude to his wife (Eph 5:25).
Colossians:…have heavenly ambitions (Col 3:5), put to death the sins of the flesh (Col 3:5) and put on the new man (Col 3:12).
The grace of God in the sending of Christ to die for us actually “teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:12-14)
Three New Testament references to the word ‘henceforth’ or ‘from now on’ bear this out. From the moment of salvation, when we first appreciate the value of the work of Christ on our behalf, a line is drawn in the sand. ‘Henceforth’:
1. Slavery to sin ruled out.
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:6)
2. Similarity to the world ruled out
“I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.” (Eph 4:17)
3. Selfishness of life ruled out.
“He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” (2 Cor 5:15)