Accepting Death

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. Cease trying to justify the activities of the flesh and agree with God that the flesh is rightfully under sentence of death.

2 Corinthians 4:10

The life of Jesus, manifest in our mortal bodies, right now, is what we need and want. There is an inner attitude to which we must consent: We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus. The key to experiencing the life of Jesus is our willingness to accept the implications of his death. We will not discover the glory of the treasure and power within us until we are ready to accept in practical terms the result of the sacrificial, obedient death of Jesus.

The death of Jesus was by means of the cross, and the cross was designed for only one purpose: to end the existence of an evil man! Those who were crucified had no life in this world beyond that point. It may sound strange to us to apply the term an evil man to Jesus, but it must be remembered that a little further on in this very letter the apostle says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Literally, he was made sin. He became what we are. When he became what we are (evil men), there was nothing else God could do except to put him to death. Thus, in the cross of Christ, God took all that we are in Adam, all our natural life, and brought it to a crashing end.

Is not up to us to put this natural life to death — it has already been done. I am only expected to agree with the rightness of that execution. Thus when I cease trying to justify the activities of the flesh and agree with God that the flesh is rightfully under sentence of death, then I am fulfilling this powerful figure of always carrying around in my body the death of Jesus. If I welcome the cross and see that it has already put to death the flesh rising within me so that it can have no power over me, then I find myself able to say no to its cry for expression. I can then turn instead to Jesus with the expectation that as I will to do what he tells me to do in these circumstances, he will be at work in me to enable me to do it. Thus the life of Jesus will be manifest in my mortal life.

The key to the new life is the belief that the old has been rendered of no value whatsoever by the cross. And throughout Scripture the order never varies: First death, then life. Death is intended to lead to resurrection. If we have died with him, we shall also be raised again with him. When we consent to death, then the life of Jesus can flow unhindered from us. It is never the other way. We cannot claim resurrection life first, and then by means of that put the flesh to death. We must first bow to the cross, then God will bring about the resurrection.

Lord, teach to always carry about in my body the death of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be manifest in me.