Abolished Death
“But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel . . . .” 2 Tim. 1:9-11.
Death puts an end to a person’s glory and all his plans. All living things fear death. Death entered through sin. Where was death, and how did Jesus lay hold of it when He abolished it? It was in His body. He had a corruptible body. He was acquainted with sickness, hunger, and weariness. Isa. 53:3. He partook of flesh and blood in like manner as the children. Heb. 2:14.
God cannot be tempted by evil, but Jesus was tempted. He was tempted in all points as we are (Heb. 4:15), and each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Jas. 1:14. This is how Jesus could lay hold of sin and death and abolish it: Sin was condemned in the flesh, and thus death was abolished. Rom. 8:3.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23. This was the narrow way to life on which Jesus went. He had received a body like ours. Sin comes to fruition by means of our body when we fall in temptation; but when we overcome in temptation, sin is abolished by means of our body. There are two ways on which we can go.
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil . . . .” Deut. 30:15.
My body serves death when anger and envy, etc., are manifested by my body. “In me (that is, in my flesh), nothing good dwells . . . .” Rom. 7:18. I am not judged because this is so, but there is redemption to be had through the gospel. There is a way to go. Jesus has gone before us on this way to life. Our entire nature that we have inherited from our forefathers—everything that dwells in our flesh—was judged and put to death in Jesus’ body. It was never allowed to develop; on the other hand, God’s will was increasingly manifested through His body. On the day of Pentecost He sent the Spirit in which He overcame and in which He walked into the world. We have been baptized by this Spirit to be the body of Christ. 1 Cor. 12:12-13. By this Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body—everything that dwells in the flesh. Then we are led by the Spirit, and God’s will finds expression through our body. Then my body serves life. Rom. 8:13-14.
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Cor. 15:20-21. “Those who have fallen asleep” are the ones who have died, who are subject to corruption. Jesus is reckoned among them. The “firstfruits” are a fruit. Jesus is the first fruit of the gospel, because it was through the gospel that He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.
Of what sort, then, is the second fruit? It is of the same sort as the firstfruit. Therefore: “For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.” He is the first fruit of the way of life—the gospel—and we follow Him on the way.
He was perfected through obedience. There was no more sin—death—left to be condemned in Him, and there was no more of the will of God that was not done by His body. He arose from the dead after three days. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Rom. 8:11, 23.
We have a promise not just for our spirit and for our soul, but also for our body—the redemption of our body. It is the redemption of the body from corruption. All of us have served sin with our body. We have had a desire to be good, but sin in the flesh gained power over our body. Through the gospel we can now experience redemption of the body from sin, because Jesus’ death is working in our body. This death abolishes sin in the flesh, and Jesus’ life is manifested—is increasingly visible—through our corruptible bodies. 2 Cor. 4:10-11. Now we live, with our corruptible bodies, the life that was with the Father, the eternal life that Jesus lived with His corruptible body. 1 John 1:1-3.
We are truly members of His body. We belong to Him, and when the number is full, He will fetch His body. Those who have fallen asleep in Christ and those who live in Christ will receive their bodies again incorruptible. What a glorious day, and what a glorious salvation and a glorious life. 1 Cor. 15:23, 49-53.