February 2 - Why Death

You’re listening to OKY. The place where we discuss what we believe and why we believe it to be true! Today we will ask the discussing - why death? Why is death needed for us to be set free from sin? 

 

 

Exodus 24:1-8

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.” 

 

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. 

 

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “we will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” 

 

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 

 

Ok, real quick, Moses is making a legal covenant with the Lord. The law that he was reading to them was legally bound by them saying they would do all that the Lord commanded, and then Moses sprinkling the blood on them. The very law that pointed out sin, was secured by the shedding of blood that represented death to the flesh. This was the covenant that they would obey the law. . .Let’s keep reading in

 

 

Leviticus 16:11-19

Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the incense on the fire before the LORD, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover. 

 

He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bulls blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one is to be in the tent of meeting form the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he come out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel. 

 

Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it form the uncleanness of the Israelites. 

 

Wow!!!!

 

Lot’s of blood! 

 

In fact, if you look through the old testament, there are close to 100 verses that talk about blood being shed during a sacrifice. And the blood was put on Aaron’s right earlobe, right thumb, right big toe, splashed against the altar, splattered at the entrance to the Tent of meetings, and even sprinkled on the people. Blood was everywhere during the sacrifice. 

 

But why ?  ? ? ? 

 

this is important to know so that you understand because it will help you understand why Jesus died! 

 

So the simple answer we all know is that the wages of sin is death. We’ve all known this since we will little if we grew up in church. It’s the easy way out of explaining why Jesus died. But it still doesn’t explain why death! 

 

So let’s take a quick look at that for a moment and see if we can’t shed some  . . . Iight - not blood - on the subject. 

 

 - You are both carnal and spiritual. If you have listened to any of the podcast over the past month, we have discussed the fact that God made you with both sides of your existence. You are meant to live in the physical world, but are part of the spiritual communion with God at the same time. The problem is, our foot in the physical world leads us to sin all the time. This was Pauls’ frustration in Romans 7 - remember - the things I want to do I do not do, and the things I do not want to do I keep on doing! What a wretched man I am!

 

This is why Paul talks so much about dying to the flesh. He understands that the human being in him will always be led into sin. He can not escape it because the chaotic darkness was let back into the world and is rapidly trying to consume all things. Remember - this darkness represents disorder, and causes us to miss the mark of God’s plan by getting us to reject the plans (or order) of God. 

 

Now when Adam and Eve sinned, God made animal skins into coverings for them. This was the first death that took place. God took a piece of his own creation and put it to death in order to make clothing for them. This represented death covering the effects of sin. The animals died, and then were used to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. 

 

From that moment forward, throughout the OLD Testament, (pre-Jesus) animals were sacrificed for the same reason. The blood taken from the animal represented an end to this carnal world, and atoned for the sin of the people. It was the payment for getting out of sin. It represented being set free from this physical world in order to be free from sin. 

 

So why death? 

 

It is how we become heirs of Christ. 

 

What is an Heir? Well it is someone who receives the full rights and benefits of someone upon their death. The word heir is a legal term for an official contract. 

 

The legal right from the beginning of time was that we would rule the earth. God placed the earth and everything in it, into the hands of mankind to have dominion over. Once sin was brought back into the world, God was forced to roll up the deed to the earth and banish mankind from the garden. In revelation we read the unrolling of this deed before God makes the earth new again. But until death takes place, the deed has been sealed. 

 

Death represents the ability for the deed to be presented to the benefactor. We were cut off from God’s full blessings because of sin. However, death, allows us to have access to the deed once again. 

 

Listen to the writer of Hebrews on this. . . 

 

Hebrews 9:16-22

“In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “this is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleaned with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

 

Sin is part of our carnal life. So death represents passing into a freedom from sin. Our spiritual self is able to resist sin because it is something found in the material world. Romans 6:6-7 Paul says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” 

 

Death is necessary, because it concludes the contract and unlocks the deed. 

 

Listen to what Jesus says at the last supper about his own blood. . 

 

Luke 22:20 - This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

 

Jesus is saying that the new covenant is open because his blood represents the death needed to make us benefactors of the deed. It’s a legal term. We legally have right to be heirs, making us in line to receive the fullness of the kingdom of heaven.  

 

Blood is a symbol of death because it is the lifeline of all living creatures. When blood is shed, it means that life has been taken, and the body is set free from sin. 

 

So when Paul says that the wages of sin is death, he is referring to the fact that death had to take place in order for us to be cleansed from this carnal world of sin. 

 

I love Pauls’ words in Romans 6:1-4

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 

 

When we become followers of Jesus, we are baptized into his death. This is the symbol that we are being set free from sin. The death has paid the price and has opened the opportunity for us to be the benefactors of the deed. 

 

And Jesus did this willingly, so that we would not miss out on the full blessings of God! 

 

You don’t have to pay the price for your sins, Jesus did. He made sure that you were an heir to all things that belong to him when he shed his own blood. You were set free from the bondage of sin! So now, live in that freedom, and thank God for the blood of Jesus on the cross!