When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He died as the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15). With respect to His humanity, Christ was the first item of God’s creation. When He died on the cross, He died as this first item of the old creation. Hence, through His death on the cross the entire old creation was dealt with.
In Ephesians 2:14 and 15 we see that Christ died as the Peacemaker, as the One who makes peace: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, making peace.” Here we see that Christ died on the cross to abolish all the ordinances among mankind. In particular, He died to take away the partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. Not only was there a partition between Jews and Gentiles; there were also partitions between every nationality and race. Without the removal of these partitions, there would be no way for us to be one in the Lord Jesus as His Body. Praise the Lord that all the ordinances were abolished by the Man-Savior on the cross! Now in the church life we have people of all races, colors, and nationalities.
Finally, Christ died on the cross as a grain of wheat: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The Lord died on the cross as a grain of wheat in order to release the divine life from within Him.
The New Testament reveals that the Lord Jesus died on the cross as seven items: the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, a man of the old creation, the serpent, the Firstborn of creation, the Peacemaker, and a grain of wheat. This is not merely our word; this is what the Bible reveals. We need to proclaim the fact that, according to the Word of God, the Man-Savior died as these seven items.
Christ died an all-inclusive death because He is an all-inclusive Person. For example, if the king of a certain country were to die, a person with a twofold status—a man and a king—would die. As our Substitute, the Lord Jesus had a sevenfold status and therefore died as the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, a man of the old creation, the serpent, the Firstborn of all creation, the Peacemaker, and a grain of wheat. Such an all-inclusive Person died an all-inclusive death.
Because the Lord’s death was all-inclusive, when He died on the cross many things were dealt with. Sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, Satan, the world, the old creation, and the ordinances were all dealt with. Furthermore, the divine life with the divine riches was released from within the Lord Jesus. His all-inclusive death took away all the negative things and released all the positive things.
Luke 23:44 and 45 say, “And it was already about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun’s light failing; and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.” The darkness here is related to sin, and the veil is a type of the flesh of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 10:20 speaks of “a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” On the veil that was rent when Christ died cherubim were embroidered. These cherubim represent the living creatures. This indicates that in His flesh Christ bore all the creatures. When the veil in the temple was torn, the cherubim embroidered on it were also torn. This means that when the flesh of Christ was crucified, all the creatures borne by Him were crucified as well. Through the death of Christ sin, sins, the flesh, and all the creatures were all dealt with.
The all-inclusive death of Christ was accomplished once for all. There is no need for Him to die again. The Lord’s all-inclusive death is eternal. If we see this, we shall praise the Lord that sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, Satan, the world, the old creation, and the ordinances have been dealt with, and the divine riches have been released and imparted to us. Now through the Lord’s all-inclusive death we are people of the jubilee.
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